


Wild Eyes

by brizamartian



Category: Kuroko no Basuke | Kuroko's Basketball
Genre: Angst, Explicit Language, First Love, First Time, Fluff, Homophobia, Humor, Kid Fic, M/M, Major Character Injury, Mild Smut, Sexual Identity, and Aomine loved him back, and Kagami loved him, and no idea they are in love, but they'll figure it out, when Aomine still loved basketball
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-01-23
Updated: 2015-08-24
Packaged: 2018-03-08 17:32:16
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 21
Words: 54,024
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3217592
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/brizamartian/pseuds/brizamartian
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Or; the one where Kagami didn't move to America and meets, hates, and falls in love with Aomine when they're children.</p>
<p> <br/><em>They keep talking as everyone gets back into position, but their voices muffle and warp until they bend to nothing as Kagami stares into the insane blue eyes of the kid who somehow moved so fast Kagami isn’t sure he didn’t just teleport there. And his eyes, they turn from a wild cacophony, an orchestra warming up in all different keys and times, to a well conducted symphony. A narrowed, precise, beautiful focus that sends shivers down Kagami’s spin. </em></p>
<p> </p>
<p>  <em>“You’re good,” the boy says, a manic grin materializing on his face. “You’re good.” And then he saunters off, that smile, that symphony never leaving his face...</em><br/></p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Symphony

**Author's Note:**

> Helllloooooo! So, this just happened. Like, my internet was out and I was like "fuck! I can't do shit without internet...oh yeah. I write stuff." But instead of working on, I don't know, editing some of my short stories for publishing, working on my novel, or doing some reading for my creative reading course, I'm like "fuck it, basketball idiots in love." Because that's obviously more important. See, I have my priorities straight. Anyway, yeah, just wrote this on a lack-of-internet induced whim, tried to use some, I don't know, figurative language like I'm actually capable of doing sometimes, so sorry if it comes off as writerly. I'm at least _trying_ to practice (failing more like). I have no idea where this is going other than they're gonna spend a bunch of time together and eventually fall in love and have a sexual identity crisis and be adorable. So...yeah. We'll see. If you want please, please, please leave a comment and let me know what you think. If you know me then you know I literally beg for comments as often as humanly possible. If you don't *gets down on knees* I beg you, please, opinions!

Kagami’s knees are hurting almost constantly now as he grows from a normal sized kid to a conspicuously tall one. The pain isn’t a problem, or rather, the pain in it of itself isn’t the problem, it’s the fact that every authority figure around him absolutely insists on worrying about him because of it. “Oh, Taiga, please take it easy.” “Kagami-kun, please, do you _have_ to play basketball right now? Can’t you relax for a bit?” “Taiga! Just chill out for a bit. You’ll ruin your legs!” How about, no?

Kagami sneaks out while his mother is on the phone. He retrieves his basketball, but holds off on bouncing it until he’s around the corner. He doesn’t need his mother worrying about him right now. Right now he needs to be playing basketball.

“Hey! Yamata! Hayato! Wanna play a few games?” he calls out when he sees his classmates across the street.

“Hell no, Kagami! I hate getting my ass beat!” Yamata yells back.

“Yeah, no. Remember? You totally beat our shit last time! And Minami-san was totally watching!” Hayato wails at the thought of his crush seeing his ass handed to him by the red-haired little devil.

“Pfft. Whatever. Fuck you guys anyway!” Kagami yells back, not particularly heated. An old woman wrinkles her nose at the twelve year olds’ foul language. Kagami shoots her a grin.

“Not our fault you’re like a fucking basketball god!”

“Not true…” Kagami mumbles to himself, blushing. He wouldn’t call himself a basketball _god_. Maybe…master?

“Yeah. Totally not our fault. And I thought your knees totally hurt?” Hayato calls.

“Jeez! They’re fine. Everyone needs to get off my ass!” Kagami shouts back.

“Whatever, Kagami. See ya at school,” Yamata calls over his shoulder.

They start walking away. “Pussies,” Kagami mumbles under his breath. _What I wouldn’t do for actual basketball. Why’s everyone gotta suck so much, huh? I wanna get my ass beat for once…_ His only hope is that maybe some of the older kids at the court will let him join their game. They usually laugh him off, telling him he’s got no chance and he’s too short and blah, blah, blah, but the point is, he doesn’t care. He’s tired of winning all the time in gym against his classmates. Tired of them blowing him off cause he’s too good. He wants a challenge. He wants to lose. The thought of playing someone stronger than him make him giddy and excited. It’s why he loves basketball.

He dribbles his ball further down the street, hoping to at least catch a good game to watch. He spots a three-on-three going on one of the back courts and decides to stick around for a bit. He sits down on the ground outside the fence, tossing his basketball between his hands.

He scrutinizes the court for a while, noticing that the game appears lopsided. _Is one of the teams missing a player?_ And then he sees a vaguely person shaped blur speed by in an instant and a ball go flying at an impossible angle and magically makes it’s way through the old, net-less hoop.

“The fuck…” Kagami mumbles to himself.

The person shaped blur slows down and reveals itself as a person shaped person. A small one at that. Shorter than Kagami even. A kid.

“No way.”

The kid’s grinning like an idiot and the highschoolers he’s playing against nearly simultaneously place their foreheads into their hands. His own teammates cheer him on, patting him on the head.

“Way to go, little man!” one says, ruffling his short, navy blue hair.

The kid laughs. “Come on,” he says. “Let’s finish kicking these pussy-asses.”

“Wait, wait,” one of the highschoolers from the opposite team holds up a finger as he says some things into the phone at his ear. After he hangs up he says, “Sorry guys, I gotta go.”

“Ah, no way man! We gotta finish the game!” says one of his teammates.

“Real sorry guys! But I really gotta go,” he says, picking up his bag. “Later!”

“Fuck! Now what?” says the other highschooler on the kids team. “Oh, sorry kid. Probably shouldn’t cuss like that.”

“Oh, fuck all that shit up your ass,” the kid replies. Some of the other highschoolers laugh at his profanity. “Anyway, we gotta find someone to finish up. I ain’t done yet,” the kid says, bouncing restlessly on his toes.

Before Kagami knows what he’s doing, he’s speaking up. “Um, can I play?” he asks.

They all turn to him. He and the kid lock gazes. He’s got these crazy intense blue eyes, that remind Kagami of bolts of electricity. It’s like he has all this pent up energy he’s keeping bottled up, but it escapes through his eyes, through that look, brimming over the top like he just can’t quite contain himself. Kagami looks back at him with the same intensity, trying to convey how badly he needs to be on the court right now.

After a second of silence the boy nods. “Yeah,” he says like he’s the one calling the shots. He glances over at the highschoolers with those eyes, daring them to tell him any different. Kagami has a feeling that this kid gets his way a lot. All the highschoolers mumble affirmations and start heading back into their positions.

“Hey kid,” says one of the guys on Kagami’s team. “Don’t slow us down, ‘kay?”

Kagami nods. “‘Kay.” He feels the skin on the side of his face prickling and turns to find the kid staring at him with those eyes again. His lips twitch slightly, like he’s repressing a full out grin. Kagami glares at him, thinking he’s making fun, but the boy throws his head back and laughs.

“Come on, let’s go!” He shouts, bouncing up and down again. This kid really is like a tightly coiled spring. He’s about ready to go nuts any second and for some reason Kagami can’t wait.

“Here kid,” one of Kagami’s teammates hands Kagami the ball, motioning him to the sideline.

Kagami nods. Taking a second to assess the court. Kagami decides to take advantage of the kid’s height. Or lack thereof. He tosses it high and the guy the kid’s guarding manages to jump up and catch it. Kagami sprints into action, turning on his heal as a member of the opposite team tries to block him. He starts in the other direction, totally open, and hoping he’s the only one so he’ll get a pass.

“Right here!” he calls, holding up his hand. The guy with the ball has no choice. He passes it to him. Kagami catches it easily and quickly looks for an opening…there! He darts to the left, knowing he’s not as good shooting for that side, but it’s still a simple shot to make. He plants his feet and then jumps with all his might. Everything slows down, like he’s the only one in the world as he drifts towards the apex of his jump. And then there’s a hand right in front of him. The kid!

_How in the hell did he catch up to me!_ But Kagami’s too high up all ready and he’s a bit taller than the kid anyway. He shoots, willing it to go in…

It does. Without the satisfying “swoosh” of the net, but it goes in cleanly regardless.

He lands back down on the ground. “Yeah!” he yells, pumping a fist in the air. That’s when he notices that his voice had broken the silence the same way his fist had broken through the air. “What?”

“Damn kid! How’d you learn to jump like that,” one of his teammates asks.

Kagami shrugs, bashfully scratching the back of his head. “I dunno. I just do it I guess.”

“Damn these kids, huh?” one of the others says. They keep talking as everyone gets back into position, but their voices muffle and warp until they bend to nothing as Kagami stares into the insane blue eyes of the kid who somehow moved so fast Kagami isn’t sure he didn’t just teleport there. And his eyes, they turn from a wild cacophony, an orchestra warming up in all different keys and times, to a well conducted symphony. A narrowed, precise, beautiful focus that sends shivers down Kagami’s spin.

“You’re good,” the boy says, a manic grin materializing on his face. “You’re good.” And then he saunters off, that smile, that symphony never leaving his face.

__

This kid…

__

Kagami shifts his weight, trying to guard his much taller opponent as effectively as possible. He keeps his eyes on the kid, now on offense. He’s seemingly undeterred by the tall barrier in his path.

Lightning quick, he’s got the ball and Kagami is after him. The kid manages to drive past the other two with blinding speed without much effort. He gets ready to take the shot but Kagami’s in the way already.

Instead of looking mad, or worried, or even trying to calculate his next move, the kid just grins at him like he’s happy he’s being blocked. He takes a step back and leans to the side, tossing the ball on an insanely curved, graceless trajectory towards the basket and Kagami thinks to himself that there is absolutely _no_ way in hell that could go in and yet…

“Hahahah! Yes! Fuck yes!” He calls out, and practically skips away and Kagami was right. This kid _does_ always get what he wants, even when what he want is for an absolutely impossible shot like that to go in.

They play for another hour or so and it starts to get dark.

“Hey guys, I think we better call it quits,” one of Kagami’s teammate says, panting.

The kid pouts briefly. “Fine.”

“Hey, I never did get your name,” Kagami’s teammate asks.

“Kagami Taiga.”

“Well Taiga-kun, you’re pretty awesome. For a brat,” he replies, ruffling his hair.

“Hey!”

“Haha! I’m Tekai and this is Kibuchi,” he says gesturing to their other teammate. “If you ever wanna play, we’re here a lot. You should come by.”

“Really? Can I?” Kagami asks, excited to have people to play with on a regular basis.

“Of course! But only if you call us senpai,.” Kibuchi says self-importantly.

“Of course, Kibuchi-senpai!”

“Hahaha! Yeah, good. I like that.”

They say their goodbyes and Kagami looks over his shoulder to find him and the kid alone. The kid glides over to him. “I’m Daiki. Aomine,” he says, tucking his basketball under his arm.

“Kagami Taiga.”

“Kagami. Taiga. Good to meet you,” The kid - Aomine - his wild eyes have hardly wained at all. He still has that insane light behind them as he looks Kagami up and down. Kagami fights the urge to turn away.

“You’re really good, Aomine-kun,” Kagami tells him.

Aomine cocks his head to the side and grins, white teeth flashing brilliantly against his dark skin. “Yeah. I know. But so are you.”

Kagami blushes. “Thanks.”

“We should play again sometime. Just us. One-on-one, yeah?”

“Yeah, sure.”

“Good,” he smiles that slightly manic smile again and then digs around in his backpack. “Hey, give me your number,” he says, pushing his phone into Kagami’s hands.

“Oh…’kay. Here.” He hands Aomine his phone in kind.

They punch their numbers in the others phone.

“I’ll text ya,” Aomine says, stuffing his phone in his shorts pocket rather than bothering to open up his backpack again. “Bye!” He takes off running the opposite direction from Kagami’s own house.

“That kid…” Kagami whispers to himself. “Is fucking nuts.” But he grins. Finally. _Finally_ someone good enough to have Kagami’s heart racing, because that is certainly why his heart is racing as he looks at his phone wondering when Aomine, that crazy, mysterious kid with the wild, wild eyes, was going to text him so he can see him and hear that wonderful symphony again because once certainly wasn’t enough…

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks for reading. Hope you like! As you can see Kagami is already feeling the stirrings. Poor thing. I'm pretty proud of pre-Teiko Aomine. I don't know why. Maybe because I wrote him like a manic-pixie-dreamgirl for no real reason? Probably that. So, yeah, still comment begging over here. I'll try to update soon! Thanks a bunch everyone!


	2. Brushstrokes

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey, everybody! Sooooooo...update! Yay! Thank you to my lovely new friends who commented and my other lovely friends who are reading this and left kudos. I love you guys. It means so much when I open my email and see someone has left kudos! Hope you like this next chapter and please leave a comment if you enjoyed! You're feedback is always very welcome! :-)

Kagami was supposed to go to America with his dad a couple years ago, but his mother ended up landing a great job at the last minute so they decided to stay in Japan.

Kagami isn’t sure if he’s happy or not about it. He’d spent a lot of time researching distinctly American things in preparation: pancakes and SUVs, among other things. Among one very important thing: Pro-sports.

Americans did everything so big. Their stadiums were so massive, the celebrations so extravagant, but of all the sports that interested him, of all the games and plays and historical footage he absorbed in excess, it was the NBA that got him hooked.

Everything is so…intense. Football is vast, and at times, clunky, stopped-up, but basketball moves near constantly with this beautiful ebb and flow like he’d never really seen before. 

Sure, he’d seen people play basketball, but not like that. The way they play in the NBA is art and he wants to do it. He wants to paint those intricate pictures with the soles of his feet against the hardwood. Feel the air brush around him like paint strokes as he draws the perfect trajectory for the ball as it leaves his fingertips and dips into the basket. 

He wants to play in the NBA and it looks like he’s body might let him if the stretch marks on his knees are anything at all to go by. He rubs at them, digging his thumb into the soft space where his bones meet, wincing a bit at the pain. God, he wants to run. And jump. And paint. 

And see that boy again. Aomine. Wild eyes. 

He was so strange. Like a caged animal just waiting to rampage at one moment, and then, somehow, he reined all his raw energy into this beautiful thing that let him move and jump and make baskets however the fuck he wanted to. Like magic. 

Kagami couldn’t wrap his head around it, but what he knew for certain was that Aomine-kun loved basketball as much as anyone ever could…so almost as much as Kagami did.

His phone vibrates, startling him. It’s just past eight on a sunday morning, so he certainly wasn’t expecting anyone to be awake, let alone in the mood to interact with other humans at this hour. If it weren’t for the pain in his joints, he himself wouldn’t be awake either.

He takes a look at the screen and does something between a gasp and squeak. It’s a text from Aomine: **the courts r alwys empty now. play with me.**

Kagami: **it’s like nothing o’clock!**

Aomine: **thn y the fuck r u up?**

Kagami: **…**

Kagami: **my knees hurt**

Aomine: **y???**

Kagami: **everyone says i’m growing.**

Aomine: **k. so u still wna play right???**

Kagami: **i’d have to sneak out.**

Aomine: **???**

Kagami: **mom says too much basketball isn’t good for me. plus its super early**

Aomine: **well hrry up. im waiting.**

Kagami: **…**

Kagami: **…**

Kagami: **fine.**

Kagami sighs to himself. He can’t believe he agreed to sneak out. If his mom finds out he’s completely screwed! But…he really _does_ want to play, and more importantly, play against Aomine, so he slips into his basketball shorts and carries his Nike’s carefully to the kitchen. It’s much easier to sneak out in socks than in shoes. 

He grabs a bottle of water from the fridge, closing it as carefully as possible and puts it, a jacket, his phone, and his wallet into his backpack. Carefully, he walks out the door, sitting down on the front step to put on his shoes.

“This is dumb,” he whispers to himself, but the truth is, he’s exhilarated. Sneaking out had his adrenaline pumping and even in the cool sunday morning air he was starting to sweat. 

He starts jogging toward the courts two blocks away, warming himself up so he could get right into it. 

He spots Aomine on the same court where they met. The one in the very back right corner.

Aomine sees him and grins.

“Well, well, looks like mama’s boy decided to break the rules,” Aomine says as he approaches.

“Shut up, asshole. This isn’t the first time.”

“Oh, really? Huh. I figured you were one of those pansy ass bitches who always did what everyone told him.” Aomine says, idly dribbling a ball.

“What the fuck? Why’d you think that?”

“I don’t know. That’s what you look like.”

“Well you look like a dick,” Kagami retorts. 

Aomine just grins widely at him. “Whatever you say. Let’s go.”

“Fine. Half-court?”

“If that’s all you can take.” Aomine tosses him the ball. “You’re ball first.”

Kagami breaths sharply out of his nose, trying to warm his nostrils because the rest of his body is hot but his nose keeps reminding him of how cold it actually is outside. It’s distracting. 

He shifts his weight, testing his legs, and then, without allowing Aomine any time to get settled, he bolts, faking left, then right, before ultimately heading left and tossing a ball right into the hoop.

“One for me,” Kagami says smugly.

He’s expecting Aomine to be upset, but he’s quickly learning that he shouldn’t really _expect_ Aomine to behave like a normal person because he just laughs, or more cackles really. “Yeah! Hahaha! Yeah. Good. I’m glad you’re good.” 

It’s Aomine’s ball, he takes it in hand and then he’s swaying, falling, flying and it seems like gravity doesn’t work right or Aomine doesn’t give a damn about gravity because the way he moves is otherworldly. People can’t move that way. He’s graceful and yet, not at all. Balance and unbalanced. He makes four steals and five shots without giving Kagami anything.

“God. Damn,” Kagami breathes. His heart speeds up. Aomine is so unbelievable. So amazing and he reminds Kagami of everything he loves about basketball. Aomine captures it’s beauty and then makes it his own unique painting. A magnum opus every play he makes.

The ball finds it’s way into Kagami’s hands and he manages to score another point before Aomine’s got it again and is dancing away from him and making sweet love to the basket.

“Gotta do better than that!” he sing-songs. But he’s still grinning like a madman. _Why?_

It’s 42-28 when Kagami has to stop, and he wouldn’t have if his knees didn’t give out just then. He’d scored three in a row and was hoping to make it four, hoping to start a roll but as he leapt for another basket his right knee trembled violently and he ended up on his ass.

“Shit,” he says, grimacing.

Aomine walks over to him and peers at his knee. “You ok?”

“Mmm. Fine. I’ll be fine.”

Aomine sits down next to him. “It’s ok. I was kicking your ass anyway.”

“Hey!”

“But you’re still good you know. Like, I’ve never played another kid who could score anything on me.”

“For real?”

“Yeah. Nobody loves basketball like I do,” Aomine proclaims, as if love of the sport translates directly to skill.

“I do,” Kagami responds loudly.

“…Yeah. You kinda do.” Aomine leans back, stretching his legs out in front of him. Their shoulders are touching. Kagami tries to ignore it. He doesn’t know why he cares in the first place. “It’s good that I found you, Kagami. I like the way you play.”

“You do? Why?”

“It’s real, you know? You play real raw. Like it’s just you and basketball and me and nothing else.”

“Well, yeah. That’s how it’s gotta be,” Kagami says, still rubbing his knee.

Aomine glances over at him, sees him wince at the pain. “Move,” he says, and brushes Kagami’s hands away. “Hurt here?” he asks as he massages his knee. 

Kagami’s chest tightens. “Y-yeah.”

“You should be careful. You jump way to high anyway. It’s unreal.” His fingers feel really nice. Kinda rough, but soft at the same time.

“That’s what everyone says.”

“It’s crazy. I don’t think I could jump like that.”

Kagami grins at the thought of being able to do something better than Aomine can. “Well, thanks.”

“Hmm. Does the other one hurt too?”

“Uh…” _Nope._ “Yeah a bit.”

Aomine leans over him for a second, then thinks better of it. He gets up and sits on Kagami’s other side to massage the left knee.

“Yeah. Maybe chill with the jumping?”

“I can’t beat you if I can’t jump.”

“You can’t fucking beat me at all,” Aomine replies matter-of-factly. _God, his attitude is fucking annoying._

“Can to! I will. Just watch. No matter how strong the opponent, I’ll beat ‘em!”

Aomine raises an eyebrow at him. “Damn that’s corny,” he says and then goes silent for a while absent mindedly pressing his fingers into Kagami’s skin. “It’s good though. I’d love to feel like I could lose. I love playing guys who can really play. Who really _want_ to play.”

“Me too!” Kagami says, smiling. “The stronger the opponent, the better.”

“So, I’m like the best to you, right?”

“…Well…”

Aomine grins, but it’s a less manic one. Warm rather then scalding. “Oh come on, tell me I’m the best.”

“Hell no!”

“Oh, you will. You’ll realize I’m the best basketball player ever. And we’ll be rivals forever and it’ll be awesome. One of the greatest rivalries in history. People will be talking about it, like, a hundred years from now.”

Kagami laughs. “Yeah, sure.”

“Hey, you know it’s true.” He gives his knee a final squeeze before standing up and offering his hand. Kagami takes it and, how can his hand be so soft and so rough at the same time? And warm too. So warm.

“I’m starving. You got any money?” Aomine asks, still holding onto his hand.

“Yeah. Don’t you?”

“Nope. Buy me food?”

“Seriously!?”

“Please! I’ll buy next time, promise. What are rivals for?” Aomine looks down at their hands and quickly lets go. It was like he forgot he was holding it, or rather, like he forgot that he shouldn’t have been holding it. Though, at that very second, Kagami can’t actually remember why they shouldn’t hold hands, cause why not? _Oh, right._

“Fine,” Kagami says grudgingly. This was going to be a very expensive rivalry.

“Yay! Ok, you pick the place.”

“No shit I’ll pick the place you ass. I’m buying!”

“Yeah, yeah. Come on,” he pushes Kagami in the direction of their stuff, mumbling about how he needs to hurry up because he’s is actually, totally going to die if he doesn’t get food soon. And Kagami tells him to shut up and wait since it’s Kagami’s money about to be spent. And Aomine tells him not to tell him to shut up and to stop being such a prick and it goes a bit like that the whole walk over to the cheapest restaurant they can find and it feels a bit perfect if Kagami stops to think about it. Even the way that Aomine’s hand likes to stay on his shoulder when he talks to him and how he leans a bit too much into his personal space before he remembers the whole thing. And Aomine’s got such an incredible lack of focus when he’s not playing that he’ll forget ten seconds later and find his way back into Kagami’s space. Kagami ops not the mention this to him or push him away because he really doesn’t mind even as he narrowly misses stepping on his foot. 

“Burgers? This early?” Aomine asks when they stop in front of McBurger.

“It’s like ten o’clock now.”

“Burgers? _This early?_ ” Aomine repeats.

Kagami rolls his eyes. “It is never too early for burgers.” Kagami orders about six and Aomine gets two. 

“You gonna finish six?” Aomine asks.

“Absolutely. I might have to get more,” Kagami replies. Aomine just stares at him for a while. Then he starts cackling. “What?” Kagami frowns.

“You’re weird,” Aomine tells him.

“Look who’s talking!” Kagami yells back. Aomine just grins. Just then Kagami’s phone starts vibrating in his bag. “Oh, fuck.”

“Your mom?”

“Probably.” Sure enough, it is. He picks up. “Hello?” he answers hesitantly.

“Kagami Taiga! Where are you?!”

“Uh, at McBurger?”

“What are you doing at McBurger at ten on a sunday morning?”

“Eating?”

“Don’t give me that, mister! Why’d you sneak out of the house?”

Kagami decides not the lie to his mother. “I wanted to play basketball with a friend,” he responds. _Friend? Are me and Aomine friends?_

There’s a heavy sigh on the other line. “Of course. Please, Taiga, can’t you hold off on the basketball a bit? I don’t want you to injure yourself.”

“Mom, I’m fine. And I can’t. I…have to play.”

“…Then can you at least leave a note when you leave…” She sounds so sad and Kagami feels really awful for worrying his mom.

“Yeah. I can.”

“Thank you. Are you coming home soon?”

“I guess?”

“…Fine.” And then she hangs up without saying goodbye, or I love you or anything. It stings. She must really be mad.

Aomine and Kagami don’t speak for a while. Finally, Aomine says, “Sorry.”

Kagami shakes his head. “It’s whatever. Come on.”

They leave. Aomine dribbles his ball and passes it to Kagami every now and again. 

“Are your knees really that bad?” Aomine asks quietly.

“Nah. Everyone’s overreacting.”

“You sure?”

“Yup, absolutely.” Aomine doesn’t answer. Kagami glances over at him but he’s looking the other direction. “Hey…I should get home. I think my mom’s really pissed.”

Aomine nods. “‘kay. I’ll text you later.”

“You will?” Kagami asks, trying not to sound in anyway hopeful.

“Yeah, sure.” Aomine grins at him. He’s got kind of a creepy smile most of the time, but sometimes, when it’s more subdued, it’s…not creepy.

“…’kay. See ya!” Kagami takes off home, feeling the need to run again. When he looks over his shoulder a few seconds later, Aomine’s gone and Kagami immediately starts to wonder exactly how soon they can see each other again. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> THANKS FOR READING! Next chapter coming soon. See you there! Oh, and if you're interested, I have another AoKaga fic that's just about done now if you want to check that out.


	3. Culinary Arts

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Short little update going on here. Unlike my previous fics, I am actually outlining the plot points of this one so I know what to set up for and what not. I've actually already written the entire fourth AND fifth chapter already, but I'm working some bugs out before they go up, so sorry this chapter is so short, but some set up and stalling must be done! I'll definitely be updating speedily with this fic. I'm really into it! I've already outlined up through chapter seven, so expect an update soon and regularly. As always, thank you to those who commented and left kudos, you are all my loves. Enjoy!

Kagami’s mother is silent at the dinner table. Surprisingly, she wasn’t home when he came back from his one-on-one with Aomine, and Kagami was in the shower when she did come back. Dinner had already been on the table.

He plays with his food a bit and his mom stares at him. “Taiga, why aren’t you eating?” She sounds alarmed. Kagami not eating in any capacity was indicative of a bad mood.

“I’m really sorry mom. Can you stop being mad at me now?” Kagami says, looking up. He can feel her disappointment like a tangible thing. She tries to smother it, but Kagami has very good instincts; he can feel it in the uncomfortable air she’s breathing around the table, and inhaling it is in turn making Kagami uneasy.

She sighs unhappily. “I’m not mad, Taiga. I’m just a bit worried is all.”

“Why?”

“Well, right now you’re sneaking out, not telling me where you’re going. You didn’t used to act like this, Taiga. You used to listen to me.”

Kagami silently stabs a noodle with a chopstick.

“What’s next? Are you gonna start…I don’t know. I don’t even know, Taiga, what are you gonna start doing?”

“Nothing, mom. I’m not bad.” He attempts to stick the chopstick through the thick udon noodle without breaking it.

“I know you’re not a bad kid, but you’re starting to do bad things. This is how it goes.” The worry lines on her forehead are deep caverns.

“I won’t go there.”

“I can’t believe that right now. Why couldn’t you just tell me where you were going?” She’s looking at him with these big, scared eyes, like she doesn’t actually want to know the answer because she’s afraid of it.

Kagami manages to make one, perfect little hole in his noodle. He tries to make another one. “I thought you’d say no,” he answers honestly. The noodle breaks in half. 

“You were…just going to play basketball. Right?” She sounds so unsure.

Kagami frowns in frustration. The noodle’s too soft. Why is she so uncertain? “Of course. What else would I be doing?”

“I don’t know…”

“Nothing,” he answers for her.

“What friend?”

“What?” he begins to perforate the noodle into little one centimeter sections.

“What friend were you playing with?”

The noodle is about twelve centimeters long. He puts a little piece into his mouth and chews before answering. “A new friend.”

“What new friend?” she presses.

Kagami frowns again, perforating another noodle. He feels sick and doesn’t know why. “I met him on the basketball court the day before yesterday.”

“How old is he?” his mother asks.

He doesn’t know why she asks this. “I don’t know. My age, probably. He’s shorter than me.”

“Oh.” He hears her slurp downs some noodles.

“Why?”

“I just…thought maybe he was older.”

“Why?” he attempts to wrap a noodle evenly around one chopstick using the other. The udon is slippery and his struggles to keep it on the chopstick.

She tilts her head slightly, looking away from him. “I don’t know…” she says quietly, but she’s lying. Kagami can tell. “What’s his name?”

“Daiki.” Kagami doesn’t know why he uses his first name.

“Hmm. Does he go to your school?”

“No, I would know if he did.” The noodle slides off of his chopstick and into his soup, sending little droplets onto his face. He wipes them off with the back of his hand.

“Taiga, please. What is it?”

He looks up at her for the first time in a while. He’d been keeping his eyes intently focused on his food. “What?”

“You’re hiding something.”

Kagami glares at her. He knows he shouldn’t and doesn’t mean to, but for some reason this makes him angry. “I’m not hiding anything! Stop accusing me of things. I didn’t do anything wrong,” he snaps. He sounds very defensive when he says it though. _Why?_

It’s true isn’t it? He didn’t do anything wrong by playing with Aomine this morning, but for some reason he feels guilty, like he’s done something he wasn’t supposed to. And he doesn’t want to talk about him either. Something about saying goddamn anything about him to his mother makes him feel sick. _I didn’t do anything. Nothings wrong,_ he says to himself.

“Ok. Ok, I believe you…just, don’t do it again,” she sounds unsure if she should drop it, but in the end, there’s nothing else she can do. She probably knows she’s not going to get anything out of him, as if there’s something the get out. There isn’t.

“So I can play basketball when I want?” Kagami looks up hopefully, beginning to actually feel hungry rather than like he’s going to throw up.

She sighs like she has no choice, which is exactly what Kagami thinks. He’s going to play. Permission or no. “Yes, fine. Just take it easy and _let me know_ when you are. Also, you’re curfew is still nine.”

He rolls his eyes, finally digging into his udon. “Yeah, yeah, I know.”

He scarfs down his food and, with his mouth full of it, asks if he can be excused. He just realized he left his phone in his room and he needs to check if Daiki texted him yet.

His mother waves him away and he bolts, but not before chancing a glance back at her. Her fingers are in her hair, bottom of her palm covering her eyes and a deep frown on her lips. She’s shaking her head, mouthing something Kagami can’t hear.

It stabs at him, but he turns to go anyway, continuing to tell himself the only wrong thing he did was leave without asking. He knows it’s true, so why does it _feel_ like a lie?

He closes his door and jumps into bed, feeling his knee twitch at the effort. “Fuck,” he whispers. It’s getting worse somehow, but he just needs to ignore it and he’ll be fine.

He lays down with his phone and sure enough, there are three messages from Daiki, the first one from an hour ago.

Aomine: **hey is ur mom hella pissed???**

And then a half an hour ago.

Aomine: **you alive??? did she kill u???**

And then again about five minutes ago.

Aomine: **???**

Kagami responds.

Kagami: **she was kinda mad.**

The reply is instant.

Aomine: **kinda???**

Kagami: **she’s worried i’m gonna become like a criminal or something.**

Aomine: **bc u snck out???**

Kagami: **yeah i guess. i dont get it. that’s dumb.**

Aomine: **maybe. hows ur knees?**

Kagami chews his lip, considering how he should answer that.

When he doesn’t respond right away like he’d been doing, Daiki texts again.

Aomine: **so not good.**

Kagami: **i didn’t say anything yet!**

Aomine: **exactly.**

Kagami: **…**

Kagami knows he must’ve interpreted his hesitation as uncertainty, which was exactly right. Maybe Daiki isn’t as dumb as he seemed today. After a bit Daiki texts him.

Aomine: **if u dont wanna play tmro thats cool.**

Kagami inhales sharply. The last thing he wants to do is not see Daiki tomorrow.

Kagami: **I’M FINE WE CAN PLAY**

Aomine: **we don’t have to. we can do something else.**

Kagami freezes. Wait. They don’t have to play basketball? But…that doesn’t make sense. Kagami wants to see Aomine paint again. Wants to see the special way he moves and that crazy face he makes when he’s making baskets all over the place. His eyes. What could he possibly do with him that would equal that?

Aomine: **i mean. maybe u shld take a break. i need to play when ur at ur best bc thats wut rivals do. we can play again soon. but i got a new bball vid game. wna play with me after school?**

Kagami wants to protest that he’s fine and doesn’t need to take a break, but Daiki is probably right.

Kagami: **ok. yeah.**

Aomine: **meet u at ur school? its kinda close to my house.**

Kagami: **sure. why don’t you go to school there?**

Aomine: **i got kicked out.**

Kagami: **what?!**

Aomine: **yeah it was funny. ill tell u about it tmro.**

Kagami: **ok…see ya then.**

Aomine: **yeah. night taiga.**

 _Taiga…_ Kagami had been calling him Daiki in his head but he wouldn’t do it out loud. But since Daiki called him Taiga, he figures it’s ok.

Kagami: **good night Daiki.**

His finger hovers over the send button, tingling a little. They were already calling each other by their first names.

He hits the button and before he closes his phone, he switches around the name in his contacts so that when he texts it’ll say Daiki. Then he lays down, closing his phone and then his eyes. His knees are still aching, but if Taiga thinks about it hard enough he can just about feel where Daiki’s fingers were this morning and the thought pulls his mouth into a smile, one he has no time to process as he drifts off to sleep, too exhausted to get up and turn off the light.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> If you liked, hated, whatever, please please please feel free to leave a comment! I absolutely love them, good, bad or otherwise. Next chapter coming very soon, so keep an eye out. See you there!
> 
> Edit: If you were reading this before, just note that I've changed Taiga and Daiki's ages to twelve. Not thirteen. I just realized that it doesn't make sense for them to still be in elementary at age thirteen when their birthdays are in August. Woopsie!


	4. Paint

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So, I've had this done all week along with the following chapter and I'm so done just staring at it. I have the most mixed of mixed feelings about this. On one hand, this chapter wrote itself in a way things haven't in a long time, and it felt great. By the time I was halfway through I just went along with whatever came out of me and it felt really real to me because emotionally I was drawing from experience. On the other hand, I'm never sure about anything I write so the more I stare at it the more I think "Maybe I'll just rewrite the whole thing." But no! Bad Bri, bad. Just post it. So here it is. I'm committing to this story line now. I hope y'all like it. I'll be posting the fifth chapter very, very soon, as it is already finished and I'm currently working on the sixth chapter at this point. Umm...angst warning for the next, oh, 3-4 chapters? Sorry. I always ruin my fluff with angst. Always. And legitimate warning here: homophobic language and offensive ignorance.
> 
> Now, big thanks to those who commented and left Kudos. You motivate me to get this written and out there to here what you all think! Without further ado, enjoy! (maybe?)

Taiga is pretty sure he spends all of school tapping his feet impatiently. His english teacher even tells him, in english, to “stop with the foot tapping”! 

He hadn’t even realized he’d been doing it.

Lunch rolled around and he stuffed his face without preamble. 

“Hey, Kagami?” Yamata nudges him with his elbow.

“Hmm?” Taiga mumbles back.

“What’s your deal, man?”

“What do you mean?” he asks with his mouth full.

“You’re totally freakin’ today,” Hayato supplies. 

“Yeah. Got something to do after school or something?” Yamata asks.

“Yeah, I do,” he says swallowing.

“What?”

“Hanging out with a friend,” Taiga tells them.

“Wait. You have friends other than us?” Yamata asks, seeming genuinely surprised.

Taiga frowns at them. “Yes.” _Well, one_

“Oh. Well can we meet him?”

“Yeah, I totally wanna meet Kagami-kun’s other friend. I totally didn’t think you had anyone but us.”

“You guys are such dicks!” Taiga yells.

They laugh at him and he laughs along too. _I’ll show them. Hell yeah I’ve got a friend other than you two dumbasses._

His final class couldn’t come soon enough, but when the bell finally rang he sprang out of his seat and into motion, practically skipping down the stairs.

He manages to run into Yamata and Hayato at the front. “Where’s your friend?” Yamata asks, almost like he doesn’t believe he exists.

Taiga frowns and looks around, spotting him almost as soon as he began looking for him. He’s standing by the front gate, basketball tucked under his arm and swaying slightly on his feet. He’s wearing pants instead of basketball shorts today, and a red t-shirt with a picture of what looks like a - what’s it called - a piñata on it. He recognizes it from some american cartoon. Adventure Time.

“There,” Taiga says, probably a bit over excitedly.

As he makes his way over to him he notices some girls off to the side looking over at Daiki, blushing and giggling behind their hands. Taiga’s lips sink slightly into a frown and he quickens his pace.

“Daiki,” he says when he close enough. 

Daiki looks over at him and that smile of his grows to epic proportions. “Hey, Taiga. Ready to get your ass beat. Again.”

“Hell no. Just ‘cause you’re good in real life doesn’t mean you’re better at video games.”

“We’ll see about that.” His eyes widen and he’s getting that crazy look in his eye like when he plays basketball. It must just be competition that gets him so frantic.

“Oh, these are my friends. Yamata and Hayato. Guys this is _my friend_ , Aomine Daiki,” Taiga says gesturing to them all in turn.

Daiki nods to them. “Sup. You guys like basketball?” he asks immediately. 

Yamata looks at Taiga and smirks. “So, he’s just like you, huh? Basketball’s cool, but Taiga’s way into it. We can’t even play with him anymore. He’s too good.”

“Yeah, I know! I love playing with him. He still kinda sucks though. Compared to me,” he says grinning Taiga’s way.

“Hey! Shut up, asshole!”

“Wait. You’re better than him?” Yamata asks, looking between them.

Taiga rolls his eyes but doesn’t disagree.

“No way! That’s totally impossible!” says Hayato.

“Yeah way! It’s totally possible! I’m just that fucking awesome. The best. Right, Taiga?”

“Whatever. Let’s go,” Taiga isn’t in the mood to hear Daiki bragging with his friends. Or talking to them. Or having them look all starstruck. And those fucking girls are still looking at him too.

“Okay, okay. Nice meeting ya!” he calls as Taiga grabs his wrist and starts pulling him away. 

“Bye!” Yamata calls back.

“Totally!” Hayato says.

Taiga expects Daiki to ask what the rush is, but he doesn’t. He matches Taiga’s speed and doesn’t pull out of his grip.

“Your friends are kinda normal,” Daiki says, tugging his arm a little, but not to get him to let go, just to pull him in the right direction to his house.

“Yeah, I guess. At least Yamata is. Hayato’s kinda strange. He says ‘totally’ a lot.”

“Why?”

“No fucking clue. He’s been doing that since I’ve known him.”

“Huh. Hey, Taiga, how’s your knees?”

“They’re fine. Stop asking,” Taiga says, frustrated. He drops Daiki’s wrist with more force than strictly necessary.

Daiki frowns at him. “What’s your problem?”

“I just wish people would stop worrying about it! It’s. No. Big. Deal.” Everyone kept bothering him and bothering him, but they’re his knees and they’re fine. They just hurt a bit sometimes, but isn’t that everyone? He’s growing. Which is good, in fact, he likes the pain in his knees; it reminds him that one day, he’ll be really tall. 

Daiki turns around so that he’s walking backwards in front of him, which can’t be a good idea. “Hey, if you fuck up your knees and can’t play with me anymore, I am gonna be so fucking pissed at you!” Daiki yells, blue eyes turning to fire.

“Jeez! It’s fine. They’re not fucked up.”

“Yeah, maybe not now, but they probably will be if you keep jumping like a fucking monkey all the time. I mean, who jumps that high?”

“Tch. You sound jealous,” Taiga says, knowing he’s probably just pissing Daiki off more. But he can’t help it; Daiki’s so annoying.

“Jealous!? Fuck that shit. I’d never be jealous of you. You suck,” he spits.

Taiga stops walking. That hurt. He sounded like he meant that.

“Fuck you,” he says and then turns around, walking away. Why did he want to hang out with this jackass anyway? He hates his attitude. Sure, he seems nice sometimes, but somewhere in there he’s a massive jerk and Taiga can’t stand it because…well…he likes him too. In a way. Likes the way he can be sometimes, but hates him other times and he’s only known him a couple of days but all ready he does’t know if he wants to be his friend anymore. He’s so confusing. Everything about him is confusing. 

“Wait! Taiga! I’m sorry,” he says, running after him. He grabs his hand. “I’m sorry,” he says again. “Don’t go.”

“Why shouldn’t I?” Taiga asks, vividly aware of the weight, texture and temperature of Daiki’s hand in his own.

“Because I wanna hang out with you.”

“Why?” Taiga know’s he’s pressing his luck, but he really wants to hear him say something good about him. Without following it up with a “well, I’m still better.”

“Because…I don’t know. I guess I like you.”

Taiga’s tongue glues itself to the roof of his mouth so he can barely speak. “You…do?”

“Yeah. I mean, you’re kinda strange, but in a good way. I like the way you think about things.”

“Oh.”

“Please come with me.” He squeezes his hand. “Please. I’ll be nice, promise.”

“Promise?” Taiga raises an eyebrow at him.

“Yes?” It sounds like a question, but it’s probably the best he’ll get.

“Fine,” Taiga sighs.

“Cool! Come on, my house is this way.” He drops his hand and starts walking faster. Taiga feels him self grow frustrated at the fact that he’s upset the hand is gone. Everytime he touches him he wants him to _keep_ touching him. He wants to hang onto his hand the whole walk there. And that’s really gross, right? He could never tell Daiki he thought that. It was weird to be thinking that about a boy. 

But Daiki was practically skipping now, grinning, eyes wide and happy, and Taiga notices that one of his eyes is slightly smaller than the other and that every now and then the sun hits his irises and they glow, but when he’s smiling it looks like the glow’s coming from inside, like his eyes are just that bright. And they look brighter against his darker skin just like his teeth shine brightly too. 

He’s short, but his limbs are long. Longer than they probably should be, so Taiga figured that at some point, he’d hit a growth spurt too and end up really tall. Or at least he hopes so. He hopes Daiki ends up 7 feet tall so he can play for the NBA with Taiga. They could both be seven footers. Taiga grins at the thought and Daiki sees it and grins back even more brilliantly. Everything about him is bright, almost like Taiga should be wearing sunglasses when he looks at him.

“We’re here!” he announces loudly when they reach a nondescript apartment building just blocks away from the school. There’s a gate blocking the stairs. Daiki puts his key in the lock. “We’re on the second floor,” he says, turning the key, opening the gate and sprinting up the stairs on the outside of the building. Taiga follows him.

Daiki stops at the door at the far end of the building, facing away from the street.

It has a nice view of a park not too far away and if he squints, he can actually see the basketball courts and around where his own house is. He doesn’t let Daiki know how glad he is that he lives so close. The mere idea of being in such close proximity all the time made him smile. 

Daiki unlocks the door and starts taking off his shoes, and Taiga follows suite. He thinks about the fact that all this time Daiki has been here, just blocks away, and they’d never met. And if he didn’t go to play basketball that day at that time, maybe they never would’ve. And if his mom hadn’t gotten that job when she did, Taiga might be in America right now and they definitely wouldn’t have met. It’s such a strange thought.

“Dad?” Daiki calls. 

“Yeah, Daiki?”

“I brought a friend,” he announces.

His dad comes around the corner. He’s a tall man, and looks a lot like an older, more subdued version of Daiki.

“Oh, hello,” he says.

Taiga bows. “Hi, nice to meet you Aomine-san. I’m Kagami Taiga. 

“Nice to meet you, Kagami-kun. Glad you came. It’s been a while since Daiki had a friend over.”

Taiga raises an eyebrow, surprised at this. Daiki glares at his dad but doesn’t say anything.

“Are you two hungry? I could make something for you guys.”

“Don’t offer Taiga food, dad, he’ll eat the whole house.”

“Hey!”

His father laughs, a sort of soft chuckling laugh. Not like Daiki’s wild cackle. “Well I don’t think I could fit the whole house in the oven, but how about some pork buns?”

Taiga shuts his mouth to stop the outpour of drool. “Yes. Please,” he says, trying not to sound as hungry as he feels. His hunger is near constant. No food is ever enough food.

“Alright, then. Make yourself at home Kagami-kun.”

“Thank you.”

“Is mom coming home?” Daiki asks. Kagami has to look at him when he does because the tone of his voice didn’t sound like his own when he asked the question. It was quiet, unsure, and completely desperate. Kagami represses a gasp. Daiki looks…sad. Really, terribly, absolutely unbearably sad and Kagami has the sudden urge to hug him just to get him to stop making that face.

His father’s back is to them. He responds with equal quiet. “I don’t know. Maybe. We’ll see.”

Daiki breaths in loudly through his nose and a slightly strangled sound exits his mouth. “Okay,” he says hoarsely. He shakes his head as if to clear it. “Come on. Let’s go play that game. It’s brand new! Should be fun.” He turns on his heel and heads into the living room.

Taiga tries to forget what he just saw because it hurts, but he can’t. He pretends he has though. Pretends he didn’t see it at all. “Sure. Cool.”

Taiga sits down cross-legged on the couch as Daiki puts the disk in his console. When he hands Taiga the player two controller, their fingers brush. Taiga, in his own head, acts like he didn’t notice.

Daiki sits down next to him, also cross-legged so that their knees over-lap. And Taiga kinda wishes Daiki wore shorts today instead of pants.

“So, how do we play this?”

“No idea. I haven’t played it yet.”

They sit through the tutorial, but Daiki starts to get impatient. “Come on, come on, I get it!” he whines. Kagami elbows him in the ribs, trying to learn the difference between a combo with the square button and one with the circle button. 

After the tutorial, they get right into, playing against each other. They both do pretty poorly the first few plays, as they try to get a feel for the game, but Taiga slowly starts to realize that Daiki plays video games very much the same way he plays basketball, probably the way he does everything. Like he’s painting a picture. No. Like he’s paint.

Daiki is like the paint itself rather than a picture. His being isn’t as coherent as a picture. He’s constantly in flux, moving through space almost too fast to see, like when he preps for a lay-up, you’d have to be looking real hard and blinking not at all to really catch the jump, the hand coming up, the toss. It’s all over so quickly. Always swaying, flowing as smoothly as drops of paint across a canvas. If Daiki were paint, he wonders what kind of picture he’d make on the court with his movements. 

Probably something beautiful.

He has endless potential. He’ll be amazing, Taiga is absolutely certain of that. He could paint whatever he wants.

His fingers move on the controller swiftly, not button-mashing like Taiga was inclined to do when he tried a new game, just casually pressing the buttons to try out different sequences, different plays, different players. 

The world is Daiki’s canvas and he is the paint.

“Pork buns are ready!” Aomine-san calls from the kitchen. Daiki sighs, pausing the game.

“Coming,” he calls back. He turns to Taiga. “Don’t eat them all or I’ll kill you,” he says.

Taiga waves him off. “Just don’t eat too slow and I won’t be able to eat them all,” he replies with a wicked smile. He’s dead serious. Those pork buns smell fucking amazing.

Daiki narrows his eyes at him, trying to discern if he’s serious or not most likely, and then hops of the couch, power walking to the kitchen to grab a bun before it’s too late. 

Taiga follows him taking a seat beside him, grabbing a pork bun in each hand and proceeding to stuff his face full of it.

“Are you ever not hungry, Taiga?”

“No. Never,” Taiga responds through his food.

Daiki rolls his eyes at him, but he’s smiling. “You’re so weird,” he whispers under his breath.

Taiga sticks out his tongue before returning to the task at hand.

Aomine-san laughs his quiet laugh. “Wow, you’ve got quite an appetite Kagami-kun.”

Taiga smiles and nods pleasantly. _Aomine-san is nice_ , he thinks to himself. _To bad his son’s a dick_. 

When they finish Daiki asks if Taiga wants to go outside. “Sure,” Taiga answers. Daiki turns his game console off on the way out. 

Once outside in the cool evening air Taiga remembers something. “You were gonna tell me why you got kicked out of school.”

Daiki looks at him and smiles a strange smile. Different from his normal one. A bit softer. Something’s on his mind. “Oh. Right. Well, I was throwing food through the hoop on the court in the gym.”

“What?!”

“Yeah. I stole a bunch of food from the cafeteria to see how many points I could wrack up. 42 points.”

“Why would you do that?” Taiga asks. He kicks a rock on the sidewalk.

“I was upset.”

“About what?”

Daiki looks at him with that same, strange smile. “Food. Some kids were making fun of my dad because he always cooks for me. They were calling him gay and faggot and stuff and I just got so mad so I stole a bunch of food and started shooting it through the hoop. I got caught and they told me to apologize or they’d expel me. I didn’t apologize. I threw a sandwich at the principle.”

Taiga’s mouth drops open. _What the hell was funny about that? The part when he threw the sandwich at the principle?_ He’d say that he couldn’t believe that Daiki did that, but that would be a lie. It seems like something he’d do. Daiki didn’t seem to like letting people tell him what to do, and on top of that he really seemed to care about his dad. But there was something else…those words, _gay, faggot,_ rang inside of Taiga’s head after Daiki said them. Spat them really. Terrible insults. If someone called Taiga’s dad a faggot he’d probably freak too, but somehow the thought left him feeling terribly sick to his stomach, his heart fluttering wildly in his chest.

He’d been wanting another pork bun, but now he feels like he’d like to throw one up.

“Taiga? You ok? You look sick.”

Taiga turns wide, scared eyes on his friend. He can’t explain what’s wrong. Not even to himself. “I’m…”

“Sit,” Daiki says, pushing him down onto the curb. He sits close to him, leaning in. “What’s the matter?”

“I…don’t know,” Taiga knows his voice shakes when he says it.

Daiki tilts his head sideways. “Don’t know?”

“Yeah. I…I don’t know. Sorry,” he says, having nothing at all better to say.

“It’s ok,” Daiki says, kinda softly. Softer than he’s ever spoken to him before. Taiga’s face heats up. He puts his arm around his shoulder. 

Taiga feels like he should pull away, but he doesn’t want to. Daiki feels so warm and comfortable right now.

“I…should go,” he forces out. It actually seems to cause him physically pain to do so.

He feels Daiki stiffen. “Are you sure? You can stay a little longer,” he says. He sounds like he’s pleading.

“Nah. I should get home,” he pulls away. Standing. “Thanks. And tell your dad thanks for me too.”

“Ok.” Daiki sounds disappointed. “Hey…so…see you tomorrow?”

Taiga hesitates and in those few seconds he sees Daiki’s eyebrows come together and his face falls into a deep frown. “Fine. Or not.”

“No! I wanna see you tomorrow. I just…”

“Just what?” Daiki’s eyes flash brightly even though there’s hardly any sun left.

“Just…nothing. Wanna play? Like actual basketball?”

Daiki’s face softens slightly at the suggestion. He cuts his eyes very pointedly at Taiga’s knees.

“I’ll be fine,” Taiga assures him.

“…Okay. Then I’ll meet you after school. Same place.”

“Okay.”

“Bye, Taiga.”

“Bye, Daiki.” He turns to go and about halfway down the block he turns back, but like before, Daiki is already gone.

Taiga sighs and squeezes the straps of his backpack so tight his hands start to hurt. He makes it home and dumps his stuff on the floor immediately as his bag feels like it’s strangling him. He glances at the digital clock. 6:00 PM.

He needs to get to his room.

“Taiga?” his mom calls from the kitchen.

“Yeah, mom?” he says impatiently, already halfway up the stairs.

“Where’ve you been?”

“Daiki’s house.”

“You know, I’d like to meet this Daiki friend of yours at some point. You should invite him over.”

“Sure. Maybe after basketball tomorrow,” he says to appease her.

“Great! I’ll make extra for dinner then.”

“Uh-huh.” As soon as he’s sure she’s satisfied he hurries up the stairs into his room and locks the door. 

Unexplainable terror grips his chest as he tries to breath. _In and out. In and out_ he chants to himself. Once he’s sufficiently calm after a few minutes of sitting on the floor, practically hyper-ventilating, he goes back downstairs to pick up his stuff so he can do his homework, trying to put his near panic attack from his mind. 

After about an hour and about halfway done with his work he decides to take a break and watch some NBA clips on YouTube. No matter what, that always made him feel better. He watches clips of Michael Jordan dunking on everyone and when the video’s over he looks at his sidebar, searching for one he hasn’t seen.

He scrolls down, and his eyes catch on the top comment. He usually doesn’t read comments but…

He sits back, hand flying over his mouth, tears come inexplicably to his eyes. It’s like so many other YouTube comments.

duffbuny27 commented: michael jordan is cool but i loves magic johnson.

dinkleback replied: then you’re a fucking faggot. magic johnson’s a fag. he’s got aids.

reglynut replied: yeah. he’s a faggot so god is punishing him for his sins. that’s why he’s got aids.

He’s seen these things everywhere, all the time, and never cared. Never even blinked. He’d even written a couple of “wow that’s so gay” comments himself…

He stands, backing away from his computer and sinking down onto his bed. He shakes his head fast, trying to keep it in, but he can’t.

He starts to cry.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So. Yeah. Too cliffhanger-y? Sorry. I really, really wanted to end it that way. Too many feels? Not enough? I DON'T KNOW SOMETIMES! Soooo, if you would be so kind as to let me know what you thought I would be eternally grateful. *sighs* writing about basketball cuties is hard. Who would've thunk it?
> 
> Oh, P.S. Shameless self-promotion. If you wanna follow my new tumblr you can find it at http://basicallyjustdoesportsanime.tumblr.com/  
> It's exactly what it sounds like. If you wanna follow my main tumblr where I post all kinds of random goodies, you can find that at http://brizamartian.tumblr.com/


	5. Syntax

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Helloooooo everyone! Next chapter nice and timely right? I'm trying not to post too often, in case something happens and I don't have time to write the next one or something. I wanna have at least a couple already done and ready to post. That being said, I'm always like 2 or 3 chapters ahead of what I'm posting so I'm trying not to be spoiler-y in my comment replies! Anyway, here y'all go! Warnings: SERIOUS ANGST.

Taiga puts both hands over his mouth to muffle his sobs. _Why am I crying?_ he wonders, but he thinks he knows what it is. _Stop it. Stop it,_ he tells himself. 

He tries to slow his breathing. There’s no reason at all to panic. But something has lodged itself somewhere under his ribcage, threatening to pry it open and let his insides out. 

No. He won’t even think about it. Won’t consider it. _You wanna hold his hand, don’t you? You like the feeling of his skin, right? That’s gay. You’re gay, _a voice whirrs around his head spitting accusations at him that he can’t fully deny. He _does_ want to hold his hand. He _does_ like the touch of his skin. If it were up to him, Daiki would be here with him right now. Comforting him. Telling him it’s ok.__

But it’s not. It’s not ok. Being gay is bad. It’s disgusting and he could never be gay. Besides, he likes basketball. He sits up at that. Yeah. He likes basketball a lot and gay people don’t like sports. And he likes video games too. And he hates pink. And he never, ever does his hair; it’s always messy. He starts to calm down. Of course he isn’t gay, why would he even think something so stupid. _Because you like Daiki,_ the voice purrs in his mind. 

_So what?_ he answers mentally, like the voice is a person. _I like him. As a friend. That’s fine._

_Only as a friend?_

_Of course._

Taiga is reassured now. His panic earlier was completely unwarranted. Now it seems stupid. There’s no way he’s gay. No way at all.

He wipes his eyes and goes back to homework, decidedly avoiding YouTube.

His mom calls him to dinner and he eats hastily, feeling completely tired out. “I’m going to bed early,” he tells her, getting up from the table. 

“Are you ok, Taiga?” She looks concerned. He wonders if his feelings from earlier show on his face at all. 

“Yeah. Fine.”

She seems unconvinced. “Ok…but, honey, if there’s anything you ever need to talk about, you know I’m here. It’s just…you’ve been acting kinda strange lately…”

He shakes his head vigorously. “No, really. I’m fine. See you in the morning.” He goes upstairs without letting her say anything more. He can’t take it.

He flops down onto the bed, too tired to even find his way under the covers. And then his phone vibrates. His heart’s in overdrive in an instant. He goes from tired to wired in no time flat.

It’s Daiki. Of course. He considers not answering it, but…

“Hello?”

“Taiga?”

“Yeah?”

“Hey…”

“Hi.”

“…So. Are you, like, ok?”

“Uh…yeah,” he answers, hoping it sounds true, though, it probably doesn’t.

“Cause, you looked like you saw a guy in a clown mask staring at you from across the street or something.”

“…What?!”

“I don’t know! Just something really scary. That would scare me too, just so you know. I don’t like clowns.”

“No one likes clowns.”

“So…was there a clown?” Daiki sounds half serious, as if he’s worried there’s a psychotic clown prowling around the neighborhood that he didn’t know about.

Taiga laughs. “No. No clown.”

“Oh. Course. Good. Then what?” He seems relieved that there probably isn’t a clown.

“It’s…don’t worry about it. I’m over it now.”

“So you figured out what it was?”

“Yeah.”

“Oh. Good then. I was kinda worried.”

_He was worried? About me?_

“Don’t. I’m fine. Hey, uh, do you wanna come over for dinner tomorrow?”

“Oh, yeah, sure! If that’s cool with your parents.”

“My mom. Yeah, she asked me to invite you.”

“Cool. Ok. After basketball right?”

“Right.”

“Awesome. I’ll see you tomorrow then.”

“Yeah…Good night, Daiki.”

“‘Night, Taiga.”

They hang up. That wasn’t too bad. See, just fine. He smiles as he drifts off to sleep, feeling somewhat at ease imagining that Daiki was there with him, saying “It’s ok,” in that softer voice. He’s asleep before he can contemplate the implications of that thought.

When he wakes up in the morning he feels groggy. He doesn’t remember dreaming about anything, but he has a bad taste in his mouth and a pressure headache behind his eyes so he must have grit his teeth a lot. He sighs, quickly getting ready and wandering downstairs. 

His mother’s already put breakfast out and he scarfs it down and takes off. “Bye mom!” 

He wants to get school over with as quickly as possible.

It passes him by in a haze and finally the bell rings and he bounds outside to find Daiki.

He’s in the same spot he was the day before. He grins widely when he sees him. “Hey, Taiga!”

“Hey, ready to play?”

“I am. Are you?”

“Hell yeah! Race you?”

Daiki grins manically. “You wanna lose twice in one day? Fine, be my guest.”

They take off running towards the courts and to both their surprise (and Taiga’s delight), Taiga actually edges Daiki out at the end.

“Shit! It’s ‘cause your legs are longer,” Daiki accuses.

“Excuses, excuses. Let’s play.”

Daiki nods and they start their game. Taiga barely even registers that they’re on the same court as before yet again. 

Daiki’s really pushing it today, obviously pumped by his lose in their race. But Taiga is just as on top of it and by the time they have to stop the score is 64-56, Daiki having won of course.

“That - pant - was - pant - really close - pant - Taiga. God - pant - damn - pant - you’re good.”

Taiga just give’s him a thumb up from where he lays sprawled out on the asphalt, too tired to speak. His knees hurt badly, but he’s not about to tell Daiki that. After a while, when he can finally form sentences, he says “My mom’s probably done with dinner by now. We should go.”

Daiki nods from where he sits with his head down, looking like a puppy on a hot day. “Yeah, ok.”

Taiga sits up easily enough, but when he tries to stand he collapses back down onto the ground. _No,_ he thinks to himself. _Not now._ He tries again, and still his legs don’t cooperate. 

He’s had nightmares like this before. Being stuck on the ground, completely unable to get up, panic welling up inside him as some unseen force tries to get to him and, if only he could get up off the ground. He wonders if he had a dream like that last night.

Before he knows it, Daiki is crouching in front of him and he looks…pissed. “Taiga. Holy fuck, Taiga. I said if you fucked up your knees and couldn’t play I’d be pissed. Well, I’m hella pissed.”

Taiga looks away. He knows he’s right.

“You said you were ok,” Daiki says. And it’s in that soft tone again. The one he hardly ever seemed to use.

“I was ok…”

“But now you’re not.” Taiga doesn’t answer. He’d like to cry right about now, but he can’t do it in front of Daiki. “Give me your hands,” Daiki says, offering both hands to him.

Taiga stares at them for a moment, heart racing, before he takes them. Daiki pulls him to his feet where he sways a bit, both knees trembling. Before he can fall though, Daiki’s got his arm around him. “Lean on me,” he says.

Taiga does. Heartbroken at the knowledge that he wouldn’t be able to walk right now without Daiki supporting him.

Daiki ends up half-dragging, half-carrying Taiga home, glaring at him angrily all the way. When they reach his front door, Taiga hesitates to take out his key. “Oh, fuck,” he grits through his teeth. “My mom’s gonna be so mad.”

Daiki scoffs. “Yeah. No shit. _I’m_ mad! Open the door so you can sit down you stupid idiot.”

With a sigh, Taiga complies. 

His mother hears them come inside. “Hey, boys!” she yells cheerfully from the kitchen. Daiki, lets Taiga down onto the couch. He’s seated before his mother comes in. “You must be Daiki-kun,” she says, taking a look at him. Daiki turns to her, his face giving away the fact that he’s upset. Taiga isn’t doing a very good job of hiding the pain either. “Taiga? What’s wrong?”

“I’m fin-“ Taiga begins.

“Don’t listen to him! He’s a liar. His knees aren’t fine,” Daiki says, fist clenched at his sides.

His mother immediately shifts into worried mode. “Taiga! Oh, does it hurt? Let me see.” She goes to fuss over him.

“No, mom! Stop it!”

“No. Don’t stop it. I told him we didn’t have to play. But _no_ he said he was fine. He can barely walk now. Because he’s a stubborn idiot.”

“I know,” his mom breaths. “I know, why don’t you listen to me, Taiga? Or if not me, your friend?”

“But-“ 

“No, buts! My goodness, Taiga. This is what it was going to take for you to stop? Why couldn’t you just take a break? Why do you have to be so pig-headed?”

Daiki plops down into an armchair. “That’s what I wanna know,” he mutters.

Taiga just takes to glaring at the both of them. Not liking how they seem to be ganging up on him.

Daiki sighs. “You should ice it,” he says.

“Yes! I’ll get some ice,” his mother hurries to the kitchen.

“Daiki?” Taiga asks quietly. He’s certainly never seen Daiki this mad before. He’s not looking at him anymore, just staring a massive hole in the floor. His forehead is drawn together, making him look older. His arms are crossed tightly over his chest. _Why’s he so mad at him?_

“What?” he snaps.

“I’m sorry?” he asks, not sure if that’s the appropriate thing to say. 

“Yeah. You really are. You dick.”

“Why are you so mad?”

“Why are you so stupid?” Daiki retorts. “If you mess up your knees now, you could mess them up for life. For. Ever. And then we’ll never play in the NBA together!”

“Wait. You wanna play for the NBA too?” Taiga asks. He thought it was just his little fantasy.

“Hell yeah! Isn’t that what you want?”

“Yeah, of course.”

“So you need to stop ruining your legs, or you’ll never get to.”

Taiga looks away. “But…I need to practice,” he whines like a much younger child.

Daiki’s eyes soften. He gets up and sits beside Taiga. Close. Leaning over. “You can practice when your legs are better. I can wait.”

“But, Daiki-“

“No! No more. Until your better. You’re my rival,” he says as if this answers any possible questions and negates all possible arguments. In a way, it does. Daiki’s hand snakes it’s way to his back. Taiga inhales sharply, and then reminds himself it’s ok. Daiki is a touchy person. He feels the pads of his fingers pressing into his shoulder blades.

His mom comes back with the ice and Taiga expects Daiki to move away, but he doesn’t. Taiga does his best to hide the blush that he swears starts right from where Daiki’s hand’s pressed into his back.

“Here,” his mom says, using an ace bandage to wrap the ice pack around his knee. First the right one, and then the left. The right one hurts much more. “There. That should help.” She sighs. “How about I bring the food out here to the living room?”

Taiga looks down, not saying anything. He feels Daiki shift and say. “That’d be cool, thanks, Kagami-san.”

She goes back to the kitchen to get the food. Taiga looks up helplessly for a moment.

“What now?” Daiki asks.

Taiga can’t look at him. His face is way too close. “Nothing,” he whispers.

But Daiki shakes his head, seemingly not at all willing to buy the lie. “Stop saying that. You can talk to me you know? I’m your rival, so I’m not gonna judge you. I’m already against you.”

Taiga raises an eyebrow. “That makes no sense.”

“It makes tons of sense! Now tell me!”

Taiga shakes his head. What’s he supposed to say? _You make me feel super weird because I have really weird feelings for you and I think you’re really nice to look at and I really like your hands and sometimes I wish you would hug me because I need you to tell me it’s ok in that soft, sweet voice, because I’m terrified that I’m…_ he can’t even think the word.

His mom comes back now with the food. Daiki glares at him a while longer before finally moving his hand from his back and thanking his mom for the food.

They both eat in silence until Taiga’s mom joins them and starts asking Daiki questions. “So, you like basketball right?”

“Yeah. Love it.”

“Guess that’s why you two get along.”

“We don’t really. We’re rivals,” he announces like it’s a fantastic thing.

“Oh, rivals?” his mother says cheerfully. “Well, a little friendly rivalry is great. _If_ no one gets hurt,” she says, pinning Taiga to his seat with her gaze.

“Yeah. And it’s no fun when both of us aren’t playing our best.” Daiki adds the weight of his gaze as well.

“What about your parents, Daiki-kun? I know they must have fed Taiga yesterday. He didn’t eat the second he got home.”

“Yeah, my dad made pork buns. How do you feed Taiga? He never stops eating.”

“Hey!”

His mother chuckles, waving her hand. “It’s not easy. And it’s only getting worse. He’s growing so much.”

Daiki looks at Taiga unhappily. “He’s taller than me,” he mutters. 

His mother smiles. “I’m sure you’ll get taller soon too. Are your parents tall?”

“Yes. They both are. My dad’s about 6’3’’ and my mom’s 5’11’’.”

Taiga looks at him out of the corner of his eye. This is the first time he’s mentioned his mom since that question.

“Oh, wow! Then you’ll definitely be tall.”

“Yeah, but I wanna be _really_ tall.”

She laughs. “So does Taiga.”

“He will be,” Daiki says with absolute certainty. Just then his phone vibrates. “Oops. Sorry,” he says as he flicks it open. “Oh, it’s just Satsuki.”

“Oh, who’s Satsuki?” Kagami-san asks candidly. 

“She’s a friend,” Daiki says. He types in a quick text and shuts his phone. “Hmm. I should go. She wants me to take her somewhere.”

“Oh, ok. Well, we won’t keep you then.”

Taiga feels his heart start to pound painfully in his chest. _Who. The Fuck. Is Satsuki?_

“Thank you for having me,” he says politely, giving a little bow.

“Please, anytime,” Taiga’s mom responds.

Daiki spares a last glance back at Taiga. “Take care of your knees. I’ll text you later.” And then he’s out the door.

Taiga doesn’t say anything; his mouth is shut tight against the onslaught of accusations, complaints, and straight up insults he wants to spit. It’s such a volatile reaction to such a little thing, but then, jealousy always is.

_No! I’m not jealous of this Satsuki chick. No way. Besides, he said she’s just a friend._

“Taiga?” he mom looks at him. “You ok? You in pain?”

“I…yes. My knees really hurt. Can you help me up to bed?”

“Of course!” She pulls him to his feet and helps him up the stairs. All the while he focuses on the pain, rather than ignore it in order to keep his mind off of _more_ painful things. 

The world is Daiki’s canvas. Daiki is paint and he makes beautiful art. Taiga wants to take a knife to it and cut a big fat “x” into his beautiful canvas, because it’s making him wanna cry and he doesn’t like it. He’s feeling emotions he’s never even felt before, didn’t even know he _could_ feel, and all because of Daiki. And admittedly, some of them he likes, but some of them hurt too bad. Some of them he doesn’t know if he can process. 

_What should I do?_ he wonders as his mom sets him down on his bed, asking if he needs anything else before she leaves, turning the light off on her way out. _What should I do?_ Take the canvas down all together? Or keep it up?

# ****

When Taiga wakes in the middle of the night he isn’t sure what actually woke him for a few seconds. And then he knows. It’s the pain. White hot, burning agony in his right knee. 

He tries to breath, but even breathing seems to be too much movement. Tears come to his eyes. It hurts so bad he doesn’t think he could make a sound that isn’t/ screaming. So he keeps his mouth clenched shut for a while. 

Eventually, when he thinks he might actually be able to talk, he calls him mom.

She comes quickly. Maybe she hears it in his voice. She turns on the light.

“Taiga? Are you ok?” After she says it she instantly realizes that he’s not. His face is red. He’s crying. “Oh,” she breaths, running over to him.

“Mom,” he chokes out. The syllable breaks in two. He can’t seem to form words properly. His brain is firing too many pain signals, there are no synapses left for syntax. “It hurts,” he whispers.

His mother takes a deep breath. “We’re going to the hospital,” she says firmly.

She’s not a short woman. Or a weak one. Taiga is still slightly shorter than she is and she manages to carry him down the stairs with relative ease, too focused on the task of getting her son to the hospital to worry about him being too heavy.

She coos things to him quietly. Telling him it’ll be ok, but he barely hears her. His ears are ringing loudly, like sirens in his head. He’s vaguely aware that he’s crying all over her shoulder, but mostly, he just feels the pain. He tries to speak, but again he can’t. It just comes out as a sob.

She reaches around him and opens the door, the cool night air at least soothing the fire on the surface a bit.

She unlocks the car door - How she does this with him in her arms he doesn’t know - and puts him in the car. His knee is jostled as she puts him down and he bites back a scream.

“I’m sorry, Taiga. Sweety. I’m sorry.” She kisses his head before closing the door and going around to get in the driver’s seat.

Taiga curls in on himself, biting his lip hard chanting, _make it stop, make it stop, please make it stop,_ in his head. He didn’t know something could hurt so much. The pain makes him want to take his leg off altogether for a while. Surely, that would be better.

He doesn’t feel the time it takes to get to the hospital, it feels instantaneous and infinite all at once. He doesn’t hear a single word his mother says the whole ride there. He feels like he’s going to black out, and, well that would be nice wouldn’t it? 

He’s aware of someone pulling him carefully out of the car, onto something with wheels. More talking. No sentences. No words. Just sounds all around him. He wants them to stop.

He’s dimly aware of tests being taken. Questions are asked of him, most of which he’s sure he mother answers for him.

He doesn’t know how long this goes on for, but then everything starts getting mercifully, blessedly dark. He thinks he hears his mother trying to say something as he fades off, but he hasn’t got enough synapses firing to process syntax…

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> That ending huh? I have a problem don't I? With ending things on the worse possible note? Yeah. Oops. I was considering tacking that last portion onto the beginning of the next chapter, but I thought "nah, it's crazier and more painful this way isn't it?" so I left it as is because I'm awful. Sooooooo, opinions? Do you hate me? I promise to post the next chapter within the next few days. Soon as I get chapter 8 done (this is fast becoming possible the longest fanfic I've ever written cause I'm working on chapter 8 and idk if I'm even halfway done yet.) So expect...length? I hope. And as always, thanks for reading and PLEASE, THOUGHTS?


	6. Canvas

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Happy Valentines Day! Here, have some heartache. Yeah, I'm really sorry about this. I probably should've worked it out so I could post a slightly more romantic chapter today, but...yeah didn't work. So angst. My bad. On the bright side, this chapter is very short. I didn't get that many comments on the last chapter, so I hope you guys are still enjoying it. Anyway, here you go!

When Taiga wakes up he’s in a hospital bed, immensely confused.

“Mom?”

“Hi, Taiga. How do you feel.”

He doesn’t know. He looks around, the events of the previous night come flooding back to him.

“My knee?” He looks down. It’s wrapped in thick bandages. The kind that bind a wound. 

“You’ll have to keep off of it for a while,” a man says. A doctor. “I’m Dr. Koibuchi,” he says, stepping inside.

“Dr. Koibuchi performed your surgery,” Taiga’s mom tells him.

“Surgery?” he heart seizes up at the word.

“You had a partial tear to your ACL and some significant cartilage damage in your right knee. You’re left knee is still intact, but the cartilage doesn’t look great either. We had to repair your torn ACL, surgery being the best, most effective way. It’s actually an extremely common injury with athletes, especially basketball players, though usually not ones so young,” he muses.

Taiga’s first thought is, of course, “How soon can I play again?”

“Your mom mentioned you might say that.” He chuckles. “Three months.”

“What? Three. Months?!” Taiga is absolutely horrified.

“Yes, that’s usually how long it takes for the injury to fully recover. Fully,” he emphasizes. “After three months you’ll be good as new. No more pain if all goes according to plan.”

“But…no.” Taiga starts to feel bile rise to his throat. The school year, his _last year_ of elementary school is nearly over. And then summer vacation. And then, finally, middle school. He does some math in his head. It’ll be three months just a week before he returns to school. Ok, so he won’t miss try outs or anything, but that means he won’t be able to play the entire summer!He’s horrified at the thought. “Isn’t there a way to make it heal faster?” he asks. 

Dr. Koibuchi shakes his head in bewilderment. “You just had surgery and you’re already worried about playing basketball again? Even though basketball caused this?”

Taiga fights the urge to yell at him. “Basketball didn’t _cause_ this. I can’t live without it,” he states.

“Well, you’ll have to for the next three months. After that, you should be fine, but you still need to be more careful. You only get one body, after all.” With that Dr. Koibuchi excuses himself to get some paper work for Taiga’s mother. 

“I’ll be right back, ok?” She gets up and walks out to go talk to him. 

Taiga flips onto his side and spots his phone on the bedside table. Before he really knows what he’s doing, he reaches out and grabs it, immediately scrolling down to Daiki’s contact. 

He’s aware that it’s only 5:30 in the morning and Daiki probably isn’t up just yet but…”Taiga?” A sleepy voice answers.

Taiga immediately regrets calling and probably waking him up. “Daiki. I’m sorry.”

“It’s early, Taiga. What do you want?”

Taiga notes that he still sounds kind of mad. “I…I’m in the hospital.”

“What?!” Daiki shouts.

Taiga moves the phones away from his ear slightly. “I just had surgery,” he tells him quietly.

There’s frantic breathing on the other line. “What? What? What happened? What did you do? What the fuck you idiot?!”

He’s sounds…panicked. _Weird._ “I tore my…ACL, I think? Apparently. That’s what the doctor said. I don’t know. I was in so much pain yesterday, my mom took me to the hospital and after that I barely remember anything.”

There’s a long silence. “You…dumbass. Are you…are you ok?”

Taiga nods though he can’t see him. “I think so, but…I can’t play for three months,” he manages, though his body threatens to betray him and cry. Again. He feels like he’s been crying entirely too much since he met Daiki.

“Three months? That’s all summer,” Daiki points out.

“I know.”

“That’s ok. You’d better not play then or I’m so not your rival anymore. You just need to get better and stuff.”

“I…know.”

“You’re so dumb, Taiga.”

“I know. I know,” Taiga says, agitated.

“Did it hurt that bad?”

Taiga blinks. “Yeah. It hurt a lot. So much. I don’t even know how to describe it.” More silence, then something muttered so quietly Taiga can’t even hear it. “What’d you say?”

“Nothing. When can you go home?”

“I have no idea. Hopefully tomorrow. I’ll probably have crutches.” He’s not sure why he says this, but it occurs to him that he won’t be able to walk for a while and he feels the need to get that out in the open.

“Then I’ll walk you home tomorrow,” he says.

Taiga’s mouth turns dry as a desert. Daiki will walk him home. That’s… _why would he offer to do that?_ And why does the idea make him so giddy? _Stop. Not now._ “Oh…ok. Thanks.”

“Yeah. What are rivals for? Listen, I gotta get ready for school, but call me later?”

“Sure.”

“Ok. Bye…feel better, Taiga. Please.”

“…I will. I mean, I’ll try I guess. Bye.”

They hang up. Taiga’s mom comes in. “Hey, Taiga. How are you feeling?”

He shurgs. “Ok.”

“Good…listen, there’s something we need to discuss a little bit later, ok?”

Taiga swallows, mouth still dry. “What?”

“…Later. You need to get some rest.”

“I’m not tired,” but even as he says it, he knows it’s a lie. He’s _very_ tired all of the sudden.

“Just rest. We’ll talk later.”

When later roles around it’s about 5:30. P.M. this time. His mom’s not in the room at the moment so he decides that this “later” means when he’s going to call Daiki. His mom’s later can come after.

He calls. “Taiga!” Daiki answers after only one ring.

“Hey.”

“Hey, idiot. How you feeling?”

“Fine. And stop calling me an idiot!”

“No,” he replies. “I got you something.”

“What?”

“Get well present,” he says. “I’ll give it to you tomorrow.”

Daiki got him a present. _Do rivals buy each other get well presents too?_ “Oh…well, thanks.”

“Yeah. Well, I’ll see you tomorrow. I’m with Satsuki now, she’s- shut up! I’m on the phone - sorry, she’s bugging me to finish this. I gotta go. See you tomorrow?”

“Uh-huh.”

“‘Kay. Bye.”

He hangs up. He’s with Satsuki. Fucking Satsuki. He hates her and he doesn’t even know her, but she’s with Daiki and he’s not.

“Taiga?”

“What?” he snaps, suddenly in a very bad mood.

“You ok?” his mom asks, worried look painted clearly on her face.

“I…yeah. Sorry,” he breaths. He’s stressed beyond belief at the moment. He’s just had surgery, he’s suddenly starving, Daiki’s with Satsuki and not him. He actually _cares_ about that, even though he shouldn’t. He can’t stop thinking about all the things he needs to stop thinking about and on top of that, his leg’s starting to hurt as the pain meds wear off. All in all, bad day.

“So. Your father and I had an idea.”

“What’s that?”

“Well, I told your father what happened and he was very upset. Understandably. So, he requested that you…go to America to see a physical therapist there this summer.”

Taiga’s mouth drops open like a latch was released. “Huh?”

“He said this man, Dr. Toby, is the best. He wants you to do your physical therapy with him. And I think it’s a great opportunity! You’ll get to go to America!”

“But then I won’t see Daiki all summer!” he yells before his filter, ineffective as it is, can kick in at all.

His mom blinks at him. “Well, no. I guess not. But, you can see him when you come back for school, right?”

“We’re not going to the same school,” Taiga pouts. “He’s going to Teiko.”

“Well, you’re not going to the same school right now either?” She seems genuinely puzzled. Frankly, Taiga doesn’t blame her. He’s puzzled too.

“Yeah, but…summer. We were going to hang out everyday and…do stuff and now…” he doesn’t even know if that’s true, but still, that’s what he wanted. 

“Taiga, I’m sorry, but your father is insisting.” His lip trembles. “Oh, Taiga? Why are you crying?”

“I’m not!” 

She just shakes her head and gives him a hug. He lets her. “Mom?” He should tell her. He should tell her what he feels. Maybe she can help him understand it. Maybe she can help him get rid of it. Maybe…but telling her would mean truly acknowledging it exists. Which…he cannot do.

“Yes, Taiga?”

“Nevermind. Nothing.”

She pulls back and looks about to cry herself. “Oh, Taiga, why do you keep doing that? There’s something you aren’t telling me.” He just shakes his head. “Please, let me help you.”

“No,” he says firmly. “There’s nothing to help.” She just stares hopelessly. Taiga’s stomach growls, loudly. “Uh, mom?”

She sighs and paints on a phony smile. “You’re hungry. I can help with that at least. I’ll go get some food from the cafeteria. I’ll be right back.” She leaves him alone and he leans back into the pillows.

This isn’t how he pictured his life at all. He pictured going to America two years ago. Pictured playing street ball there. Going to middle school there. Making new friends there.

He never pictured having to have surgery, or being stuck in Japan. He never pictured he’d get the opportunity now to go to America…and then want to refuse it. Because he never pictured a blue haired boy with wild eyes making him feel all strange and unsure. He never pictured wanting to hold another boys hand all day long and just _look_ at him. 

Everything is all wrong. His canvas isn’t coming out the way it ought too. And it’s all Daiki’s fault isn’t it? He’s painting weird, unexpected, beautiful wild things all over it and Taiga isn’t sure if he wants him to stop. 

He is sure that he has no idea how he’s supposed to tell Daiki that he’s going to America for the whole summer. Taiga at least hopes he’ll be kinda disappointed. And yet, even knowing he’ll have to tell him, even knowing Daiki might be mad, even though all this is Daiki’s fault, he still can’t wait to see him tomorrow. To walk home with him and talk and maybe Daiki will put his arm around his shoulder and lean in close like he’s done, and maybe then Taiga will feel ok.

Or maybe, it’ll hurt even worse.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yeah. Sadness. I keep doing that. So, please please please, leave a comment if you can! It's how I know you guys like where this is going (or not). Believe me, it really helps to know people are interested and hear what you guys like or don't like. Helps me improve! Next chapter coming tuesday (I'll be posting every tuesday and saturday now if all goes well.) As always thank you for reading!!


	7. The Orchestra

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Well hello there people! First off, THANK YOU SO SO MUCH FOR THE COMMENTS ON THE LAST CHAPTER! I'm glad y'all are still enjoying it and everything. Makes me all warm and fuzzy inside to see comments in my inbox. As always with this fic, I'm replying to each and every comment (so that's why there are so many comments on this fic! Lol. The replies pile up!) Now then, I just have to say, even though I'm already working on chapter 10 as I post this chapter, this one is still my favorite chapter so far. Idk why. Maybe I was in a good mood when I wrote it, it could be totally average, I could see that. But for some reason when I was done I was just like "Yes. This is nice," and I moved on, which I rare for me. It just felt good. Soooooo...yeah, hope you guys like it as much as I like writing it! Enjoy!

Taiga gets asked at least a dozen times what happened, and at least a dozen times he grudgingly replies that he hurt his knee playing basketball. By lunch time everyone in school knew. Almost no one was surprised.

“That’s what you get, Kagami. We told you, you should be more careful,” Yamata says, trying to look superior.

“Totally,” Hayato adds unhelpfully.

“Shut up,” Taiga says. Not really in the mood to talk.

Since yesterday he hasn’t said much. He’s been thinking about going to America, how if he didn’t know Daiki this would be the best thing that could happen to him and yet all he can think about is how much he’ll miss the blue haired idiot.

At the end of the day he walks, or rather limps along with his crutches to the place where Daiki had met him before. 

“Does your school get out earlier than mine?” Taiga asks as he approaches, suddenly wondering how he always manages to be here before him.

“Nah, I just ditch gym,” he says. He’s got an odd look on his face as he looks at Taiga.

“What?” Taiga asks, uncomfortable.

Daiki shakes his head. “Give me your bag.”

“What?”

“Lemme carry it.” He holds out his hand.

Taiga hands it to him, not telling him how grateful he is as it’s putting strain on his arm, pushing it painfully against his right crutch. “Thanks.”

“Mmhm.” 

They start walking in silence, which is a bit strange for them. Taiga knows what’s on his own mind, but he can’t tell what Daiki is thinking. “You ok?”

Daiki turns to him with a surprised look on his face. “You’re asking me if I’m ok?”

“Yeah…You look like you’re thinking. Which isn’t like you ‘cause you’re a moron.”

Daiki glares. “Oh shut it, you idiot.” _That’s better._ ”It’s fine. Just thinking about my mom.” He doesn’t elaborate further and Taiga doesn’t ask him to. He’s preoccupied with his own worries. “Hey, guess what I’ve got in my bag!” Daiki says suddenly.

“What?”

“My PlayStation. We can hook it up to your TV and play if you want.”

“Sure, cool.” Taiga smiles, but it’s forced. Daiki is making it harder and harder to tell him he’s leaving.

“Oh!” Daiki stops in the middle of the sidewalk. “And this.” He says, handing Taiga a small, oddly shaped thing wrapped in what looks like a paper bag.

“What is it?” Taiga asks, leaning heavily on his crutches as he takes it.

“Just open it, dumbass.”

After struggling with the several layers of brown paper, Taiga finds a bright red, braided, beaded bracelet. The beads are painted to look like tiny basketballs…It’s possibly the most perfect thing he’s ever seen.

“It’s…from my mom technically. She thought I’d like it. But, look!” Daiki holds up his arm. He’s got an identical one in blue. “See. Rivals forever, right?”

“I…thanks Daiki.” Taiga turns away to hide his blush. “I really like it.”

“Yeah. I know,” Daiki says a bit smugly. “Here, lemme tie it on for you.” He takes Taiga’s hand and carefully ties the bracelet around his wrist. All the while, Taiga avoids looking him in the eye. 

“Awesome, right?” Daiki turns his blinding, billion watt smile on him.

Taiga can’t help but grin back. “Awesome.”

When they get to Taiga’s house his mother isn’t home. They start fiddling with the TV, trying to connect the right cords to the right outlets. An hour and a lot of swearing later, they’ve done it.

“Ugh! Why’re these pieces of shit so fucking complicated!” Daiki yells. 

Taiga laughs. 

They play for a couple of hours, until it starts getting dark. His mom’s still not home. “My fingers hurt,” Taiga says.

“Mine too. Let’s stop.” They turn off the PlayStation and Daiki disconnects everything. It’s a lot easier than connecting it. He sits back down on the couch, struggling to stuff it back into his bag.

Taiga is stalling as his heart races faster and faster. “So…what’s Satsuki like?” he can’t prevent himself from asking. He needs to keep stalling.

“Annoying as hell. We’ve known each other our whole lives.”

“So, you don’t like her?” he asks.

“Not really. I mean, I guess I do, but…I don’t know. I tolerate her because I have to, you know? She’s basically my sister.”

“Oh.” Taiga hides his smile. He feels a little bit better admittedly. “Daiki, there’s something I have to tell you,” he pushes this out of his mouth through sheer force of will. He can't stall any longer.

Daiki turns his bright eyes on him expectantly. “Ok? What?”

“I…it’s not good news,” he says, noticing how Daiki looks a bit too eager. 

His face falls after Taiga tells him this. “Oh. Ok.”

“I’m…leaving for America next week.”

Daiki just stares at him for what feels like an eternity. “What?”

“I’m spending the summer there. My dad wants me to see a special doctor.”

Daiki’s face morphs into something unmistakeable. It’s pain. “Oh.”

“I don’t want to go!” Taiga tells him hurriedly. His face…it’s…Taiga does something stupid. He leans forward and hugs him, trying to hug the pain away.

To his utter shock, Daiki hugs him back immediately. He rests his head on Taiga’s shoulder, squeezing him a little too hard around the waist. “I don’t want you to go, but…I guess you should. It’s good right?”

“I…guess so?” Taiga says, almost unable to speak. He can smell Daiki’s hair, like light, shampoo, and sweat. His hands are on his back, his long arms all around him, radiating heat.

Daiki sighs against his neck. Taiga shivers despite how warm he is, especially now. “Then…have fun.” He pulls back a little so he can look at him. Taiga wants his head to go back to laying on his shoulder because his face is just inches away from his and Taiga knows he won’t be able to speak. “You gotta text me lots, ‘kay? Like pictures and stuff and tell me what you’re doing and everything.”

Taiga nods mutely.

“And…” Daiki looks down. “I, uh…well…I’ll be here when you get back. You know? And we’ll play ‘cause you’ll be good as new right?”

Taiga nods again.

“Good. Hey, we’ll always be rivals. I wanted to hang with you this summer, but, you know.” He shrugs, but the pain’s still etched into the lines of his forehead. “I’m sure you’ll have all kinds of fun. Oh, you’re dad’s in LA, right? You should go to a Lakers game! Wouldn’t that be amazing?”

Taiga smiles at the thought. That _would_ be amazing.

“Just take pictures for me. And take notes too. Like about moves and stuff so you don’t suck too bad when you get back, ‘kay?”

“Okay.” Taiga can’t even bring himself to get mad. Daiki is so close, still touching all over and it feels _right_.

Daiki sighs. Taiga feels it on his eyelashes. “I should get going. My dad’s probably got dinner ready and stuff.”

“Yeah. Ok.”

“I’ll see you tomorrow after school, right?”

Taiga nods. 

Daiki doesn’t let him go right away, he looks at him a while longer before sighing again and finally getting up to leave. “Ok. Text me if you wanna. Later.”

“Bye.”

And he’s gone. 

Taiga exhales for the first time in what feels like a lifetime. Had he been breathing at all when Daiki was holding him? Probably not. 

His heart is fluttering like a caged bird and he wants to stand up, to pace, but he can’t, so he squeezes his fist together so tight be probably breaks skin as his pulse just hammers away, pulsing like a drum. Add to that the bells ringing in his head, the sad violin music that ought to be playing in the background and the inter-dispersed ring of a gong as he knee slowly throbs in time, and you’ve got yourself a full on orchestra of pain.

“Fuck, this is stupid,” he says to and about nothing in particular. “Fuck this.”

By the time his mom comes home, Taiga is fast asleep on the couch, emotionally exhausted.

When he wakes, he’s in bed. And starving of course.

# ****

The week goes by far too fast. It’s already Sunday. School’s over. His flight’s tomorrow afternoon.

Taiga spent every free moment of it with Daiki. Just talking and playing video games. Taiga had even managed to earn a bit of information about Daiki’s mom.

“Mom’s an artist,” he said one night. Taiga was laying on the couch looking down at Daiki who was laying on the floor.

“What kind?”

Daiki shrugs. “She does lots of things. Music, painting, cooking, whatever. As long as it’s art.”

“Why’s she never home?”

“She travels a lot. Doing things. I don’t think she really wanted me. Like, I just sorta hold her back. Having a kid doesn’t let her do what she wants to do. Be free. So she left me with my dad who’s kinda like my mom and my dad. But every now and then she comes around to see us.”

Taiga’s chest hurt. How could anyone not want Daiki? “I’m sorry.”

“It’s okay. I just like when she visits. I know she at least thinks about me because she always brings me back lots of weird stuff. Like those bracelets. And she’ll sit down and tell me the story of how she got each and every thing. They’re all special. I like that.”

Taiga didn’t know what to say. He knows the feeling, at least a bit. Both of them live with just one parent, never quite knowing when they would see the other again. Now Taiga knows exactly when and for how long he’ll see his dad, and still, he’s not entirely happy about it.

“Well…that’s good. How did she get the bracelets?” he asked.

Daiki smiles radiantly at him. “She bought ‘em from a kid. This little girl at one of those flea markets. She made them, and she was selling them to people who came by. Mom says she was really poor. She bought every single one. Paid a whole 10,000 Yen for them.”

“10,000 Yen?!”

“Yup. And she gave me these two with the basketballs because they reminded her of me.” Daiki was smiling dreamily at the memory. Taiga tried not to hug him and never let go. “Anyway, what about your dad? How’s he?” Daiki had asked.

“He’s whatever. He’s a dad. He calls to check on us, but he’s really busy with his job. I like your dad,” Taiga told him.

“Yeah. Me too.”

During this week together, Taiga attempted not to make note of every single time Daiki touched him, but failed miserably.

Once, when they were walking home, Daiki’s hand found it’s way to his shoulder and he didn’t move it the whole rest of the walk. 

And whenever Daiki hands him the game controller their fingers touch. 

Also, Daiki generally sits very close to him, so some part of him is always in contact.

Taiga even tried not the think about the first time Daiki went into his room. It wasn’t a big deal, but Taiga’s heart rate didn’t seem to know that.

Eventually, he got used to it, but he still isn’t used to Daiki laying in his bed, with him in it, as he’s doing now. 

Taiga’s bed is small. His mom told him she’d buy him a new one while he was gone. As it was, it could barely fit Taiga, let alone Daiki as well. But still, Daiki crawled into bed with him as they waited for his mom to call them to dinner. Daiki was talking animatedly about a play he’d made against some highschoolers a while back, and though usually Taiga would be intensely interested in the story, he couldn’t invest much attention as his focus was elsewhere. Namely, on the fact that Daiki was in his bed and his pillow would probably smell like his hair tonight, and that that did not entirely bother him.

“And then-“

“Boys, dinner’s ready!” his mom ends up cutting in.

“Okay!” Taiga yells back.

“I’ll tell you later,” Daiki says, sitting up. They’d been shoulder to shoulder, or rather, Daiki’s shoulder was on top of Taiga’s as was most of the right half of his body. They couldn’t fit unless one of them was half on top of the other. Daiki didn’t even seem to register it. He sits up, offering his hands to Taiga to help him up. He hands him his crutches and walks very slowly down the stairs so that Taiga can keep up.

They talk about all kinds of things at dinner. Taiga learns that Daiki is really into pop idols. Taiga laughs at him for a full minute.

“Daiki, you know this is Taiga’s last night here, did you want to stay over?” his mother asks.

“Yes!” Daiki says, a little food escaping his mouth as he does so.

Taiga’s mouth curls itself into an involuntary smile. Daiki was going to be in his bed all night. At the very least, he can keep that feeling for a while. He doesn’t even bother the think about anything else. Just as long as Daiki’s near him.

They whisper about all sorts of things all night long. Taiga’s already gotten better at not worrying about their proximity, that is, at least, until Daiki puts his arms around him and lays his head on his shoulder. “I’m sleepy, Taiga. Bed time,” he says into his neck.

“‘Kay,” Taiga manages.

“I’m gonna miss you, Taiga,” Daiki says sleepily. It’s very, very cute.

“I’ll miss you too. A lot.”

Daiki still has the energy to snort. “I’ll miss you more.” _Always making everything into a competition._ “You’ll be having all kinds of fun in America, while I’m stuck here.”

Taiga doesn’t want to argue. He kinda hopes he’s right.

Daiki sighs. “Good night, Taiga.” And then…and then…and then he kisses his cheek, just kinda puts his lips to it for a second, making a little kissing noise, and then he’s asleep.

Taiga’s heart threatens to tear it’s way out of his chest. Daiki just kissed him. Actually kissed his face. And he…liked it…no…loved it. And… _oh no_ , he thinks. The fear coming back full force. He’d been doing ok lately, but-

But Daiki had kissed his cheek so what does that mean? Does he…feel that way too? And what does “that” even mean?

Taiga’s honestly never been so confused in all his life, but Daiki is sleeping soundly, snoring a little against his shoulder and Taiga could probably look at him forever, but his snores are a bit infectious, his warmth infiltrates his skin and he can’t stop the sleep. The comfort of the moment overwhelms the discomfort and confusion. He’s so utterly _content_ right now that he stops thinking all together, the good, the bad, _everything_ and just _feels_ instead. With his whole being. 

He closes his eyes, the last thing he sees is Daiki’s face, the last thing he hears is that symphony, softer and sweeter this time, played by an entirely different orchestra; this is what ultimately sends him off into blissful sleep.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Well, then. Cute? Cause I thought it was hella cute. Maybe I just like it because I've been writing so much angst and this time I'm like "ok, let's end on a semi-happy note." Bittersweet maybe? I saw the last scene in my head and I just really wanted to get it out, you know? So, is it your favorite too? Or nah? Are you like "nah, Bri, this is just meh?" Well, I'd love to know what you think! As always, thank you for reading and I will be back with a new chapter on saturday! See y'all there!


	8. Weaving

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Oh, hello there! Well first off, as always, thanks for all the comments!! Like so many omg!! Just...THANK YOU. The cuteness really got to everyone (including me!) I couldn't help it. On the bright side, the cuteness continues for a bit so that's fun! And...that's all I'm going to say for now...Enjoy!

When Taiga wakes, he’s on top of Daiki. The opposite of how they feel asleep.

Daiki’s hand is resting heavily on his side, on his _skin_ , his shirt having rode up a some point. Daiki’s arm is pinned beneath Taiga’s body, but he’s still fast asleep so he obviously can’t feel it.

It’s still pretty early, so they don’t have to get up just yet. Taiga takes the opportunity to stare at his rival’s face. He’s got these short little eyelashes, but there are tons and tons of them, twitching slightly as he breaths. His face is asymmetrical. One eye, when they’re open, slightly smaller, and one side of his smile reaching slightly higher. He can see that when Daiki’s lips part slightly and one side droops down the slightest bit more.

Taiga had learned in art class that symmetrical faces are supposed to be more beautiful, but Taiga is pretty damn certain that’s wrong; Daiki’s face is way more beautiful the way it is. Everything about it’s perfect. The lopsidedness, his short eyelashes, his brown skin, his crazy grin and his wild blue eyes, all of them so…nice. Nice and beautiful; meant to be looked at forever.

Taiga notices that his chest starts to hurt. He’s really going to miss him. Three months seems like the rest of his life right now. He won’t see this face for three months. And he…thinks Daiki is beautiful? _Oh, god, no,_ he thinks, but he absolutely does. He thinks a boy is beautiful, the most beautiful person in the world even. He feels like choking.

Daiki stirs, opening just one eye, his bigger eye. “Taiga?” he whispers onto his face. “What’s the matter?”

Taiga hadn’t realized it, but he’d made a choking sound. “Nothing.”

Daiki puts his hand to his face. It’s not gentle, it’s haphazard, probably meant to be a slap, but more of a dropping of his hand. “Stop doing that.”

Taiga decides to be honest. Mostly. “I’ll miss you.” He feels like he’s said this a million times, but he could say it a million more and still have it not amount to how much he will miss him.

Daiki opens his other eye and pouts at him. He looks like a puppy. “Stop it. You’re making me sad, Taiga.” He hugs him. 

Taiga hugs him back. “Sorry.”

Daiki pats his head. “Quit whining and get up. The sooner you go, the sooner you can get back, right?” Daiki says in a rush.

Taiga nods against him. “Right.” 

# ****

They say goodbye on the front porch. All of Taiga’s luggage is already packed into the car. 

“Call me when you get there, ‘kay? I don’t care what time it is. I’ll be up anyway.”

“Ok.”

Daiki takes one of his hands. Looks down at it. “I’ll see you soon. I’m…really glad I met you and everything. Really.” He gives the hand a squeeze and then looks Taiga right in the eye.

Taiga is at a loss for words. And breath, frankly. “I…I’m glad I met you too.”

“I hope…we’re still the same when you get back. Three months is kinda a long time and we haven’t know each other that long so…I just don’t want you to-“

He’s babbling. Taiga bravely cuts him off. “You’ll always be my rival.” He looks pointedly at the bracelet around his wrist. Some little fibers are already starting to fray slightly, but it’s woven tightly. It won’t break. Not ever. “Don’t worry.”

“I…ok. Yeah, you’re right. You could never find anyone better than me anyway,” Daiki says, confidence obviously restored in full.

Taiga rolls his eyes, but…”Yeah. I don’t think I could,” he says quietly.

Daiki stares at him for a long time. Taiga stares back. Finally, Daiki sighs. “You should go. Sooner you go, remember?”

Taiga nods heavily, the weight of his head is too much for his neck right now. “Bye, Daiki.”

“Bye.”

He turns to go and then…he turns back and kisses him on the cheek, quick and breathless. And Daiki…Daiki blushes redder than Taiga thought he could.

For some strange reason, Taiga feels awfully smug about it. So smug he actually grins. “See you soon, Daiki.”

Daiki’s still bright red. “Yeah…” he shakes his head. “Hey! Don’t forget to call me! Idiot!”

Taiga nods as he throws his crutches into the car. He knows he’s red too. He can’t believe he did that. It was one thing when Daiki was half asleep and probably doesn’t even remember kissing him last night, but Taiga was fully awake. What was he thinking? 

He feels like laughing for some reason. Like laughing and floating off into space and never coming back. What the fuck was that? He actually kissed him. His rival. And the worst thing is, he doesn’t think he really regrets it all that much. 

If given the option, most likely he would do it again. He sits down in the passenger seat, closing the door. Daiki waves at him and he waves back. 

Daiki shook it off pretty fast. He’s grinning like an idiot, as usual, eyes as bright, or even brighter than ever.

Taiga felt so many conflicting emotions at once. On one hand, he liked being close to him. Liked hand holding and stolen cheek kisses. Liked it so much he hurt inside. On the other hand, he knew it was wrong. Knew it was… _gay_ and that made him hurt in an entirely different kind of way. 

He looks at his hand. The bracelet Daiki gave him is a comfort, like a soft woven blanket, but it also feels like a noose at times. 

His mom puts the car in drive and they set off for the Airport. When Taiga turns too look out the back windshield, Daiki is gone. He shouldn’t have expected anything else.

Taiga sighs loudly and digs the heels of his hands into his eye sockets.

What the actual fuck is wrong with him? He feels like crying/jumping off of something really high/flying/laughing/dying.

He moves his hands and glances at his mom out of the corner of his eye.

She’s not looking at him. But in a very deliberate way. Taiga can feel it. “Mom?”

“Yes?”

“What?”

“Hmm?” She glances at him and then away, feigning nonchalance.

“What is it?”

“What is what, Taiga?”

Taiga frowns. “You’re not looking at me,” he says, unable to figure out another way to put it.

“I’m driving,” she replies.

Taiga shakes his head. “I know but, you’re acting kinda weird.”

“Am I? Huh.”

Taiga stares at her, not liking this response at all. “Moooooom?”

She laughs a little at his juvenile tone. “Whaaaaaat?”

“Stop it! You’re being weird,” he says, trying not to laugh at her imitation.

“I’m sorry. I don’t mean to be.”

“Why are you being weird, then?”

She’s silent for a while. Taiga beings to think she isn’t going to answer him. They’re already halfway to the airport when she says. “You really like Daiki, don’t you?”

Taiga looks away. “Yes.”

She nods. “Ok,” and then she doesn’t say anything else. Her face gives nothing away.

Taiga, frustrated, gives up.

They arrive at the airport and his mom walks him as far as she can. This is his first time at the airport alone and she’s fussing over every little thing.

“Quit it, mom! I’ll be fine,” he says as he approaches security, where she has to let him go on alone.

“Be careful with your crutches! And don’t forget your school I.D.! And-“

“Mom!”

“Alright, ok. I love you, Taiga. I’ll miss you so much.” She kisses his head. She actually has to tilt her head up slightly to do so. He’s very nearly her height.

“I’ll miss you too mom.” It hits him for the first time that he really will. He’d been thinking about Daiki and nothing else lately. He didn’t realize he’d never been without his mom this long. “I’ll really miss you.”

She waves at him until he’s out of sight, and probably after that as well.

Taiga sits and waits at the gate, playing games on his phone and thinking about Daiki, as usual. He wonders what he thought about when Taiga kissed him. Did he like that he kissed him? Or hate it? Oh, god, did he think Taiga was a fag? But…no. He seemed fine after. Flustered, yes, but not in a bad way, necessarily. Could Daiki also…?

His gate is called for boarding in 5 minutes. He gets up, knowing he has priority boarding due to his injury.

“Hey there!” the woman checking boarding passes says as he waits at the front of the gate There’s no one else standing yet. “How are you, little sir?”

Little sir. He likes that. She must be American. She’s blonde with greenish eyes, big glasses and a big smile. Her Japanese is very good, but slightly accented.

“I like your basketball bracelet,” she says loudly, pointing to it.

“Thanks. It was a gift.”

“Oh, a gift. From who?” 

“Someone…I really like,” he says, looking away, probably turning red in the cheeks. He doesn’t know why he says it like that.

“Oh, really?” She smiles. “I’m Alex by the way. What’s your name?”

“Taiga.”

“Well, Taiga. It’s a very nice bracelet. This person must like you a lot too.”

Taiga looks at Alex hopefully. “You think so?”

She laughs a little. “I do. God, I remember being your age. It’s so tough.” She tilts her head to the side thoughtfully. “So, what’s her name?”

“His,” Taiga says without thinking.

Alex’s eyes widen slightly and then she smiles, but it’s different this time. He can’t quite read it. “What’s his name?”

“Daiki.”

“Daiki. Daiki and Taiga. Hmm.” She nods, like she’s made a decision. “Sounds good to me,” she says.

Taiga looks up at her. This pretty blonde American has just given him something wonderful in just four words. “It does?” he asks.

She nods again. “Yup. Definitely.”

Taiga looks away. “I don’t know…why I feel the way I do. It’s weird.” He can’t stop himself from telling her these things. Something about the situation maybe, or maybe her eyes or her smile brings it out of him. It’s been hurting and he wants to tell someone. And she’s a stranger, but somehow that makes it much, much easier.

“Why’s it weird?” she asks.

“Because…he’s a boy. And I’m a boy. And the way I feel it’s…” he takes a breath. “I don’t want to be gay.” And that’s the heart of it isn’t it? He desperately wants to _not_ be gay. He’d do just about anything.

Alex leans forward slightly, head tilted to the side. “Taiga, there’s nothing wrong with you or the way you feel.”

“But there is! It’s not normal. It’s bad.”

“I know people make it seem that way, but people are idiots! It’s not bad.”

“It’s not?” Taiga has a hard time believing it. Boys are supposed to like girls and girls are supposed to like boys. They get married and have children and live happily ever after. Boys liking boys can’t be right or good. Could it?

Alex shakes her head. “No, there’s nothing wrong with it.”

“But, maybe I’m not, right? I like basketball. It’s my favorite thing.”

She chuckles lightly. “You can like basketball and be gay, Taiga.”

“What?”

She shakes her head. “Society today,” she mumbles. “You can like anything you want and anyone you want to. Who you like and what you like are just part of you. Just because you like boys doesn’t mean you can’t like sports or video games. And liking boys doesn’t make you less of a boy _or_ less of a person.”

“I…I mean…I don’t know. If I’m gay,” he mutters. 

“That’s alright. You don’t have to. Maybe you’re not. Maybe you just like this one boy. Maybe you like both. Boys and girls. Who knows? How old are you?” she asks.

“Twelve.”

“Wow! I thought you were older. You’re pretty tall for a twelve year old twerp.” Taiga grins at that like it’s a compliment rather than a statement of fact, ignoring the twerp part. “See, you’re a baby. You’ve got plenty of time. And eventually, you’ll figure it out. Just remember: Either way, I still think you’re way cool, Taiga.” She says “way cool” in english, but Taiga understands it. He likes the way it sounds. 

The loudspeaker announces that boarding is about to begin. People start shuffling to the line.

“Can I see your pass, little sir?” Alex asks.

He hands it to her. “Thank you,” he says.

Alex nods and hands him the pass. “You’re very welcome. Remember Taiga, you’re way cool.” 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> ALEX! I don't know why I put Alex in there like that. There wasn't really any reason. I just wanted her in the story and I wanted her to do something meaningful. In my brain this is after she quit basketball and she just happened to get a job at the airport since she speaks English and Japanese. I really have no idea, but it happened! BIG THANK YOU'S TO EVERYONE READING THIS SO FAR! Y'all make my heart happy, I just want y'all to know that. Now, **IMPORTANT** heads up about the next chapter. See, the next chapter is, like, 9000 words long which is over 3 times longer than normal, so, for the sake of consistency, I decided to break it up into three parts. So, it's kinda like one story arch told over three chapters. I meant for everything in it to take place in just one chapter, but it kinda got really long and involved so... this happened. So, I'm posting chapters 9 (part 1), 10 (part 2), and 11 (part 3), back to back to back rather than waiting to post on my normally scheduled days. So they'll be coming on tuesday, wednesday and thursday, and then chapter 12 will be out next saturday (I'm already working on chapter 13 as I post this!). Hope that sounds good to everyone! I say all this just in case you wanna wait until Thursday to read all three parts together. As always, if you liked it, or if you didn't like it, let me know! I absolutely love to know what you guys think! I'll be back next week with three new chapters! See you then!


	9. Photography, Part 1

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey guys! Thank you once again for all the comments! I was swimming in happiness, y'all have no idea. Like literally gushing all over everything. So thank you thank you thank you! As promised, three chapters back to back to back coming at ya! Hope y'all are ready. ENJOY!
> 
> Oh P.S. I'm actually from LA, so in the coming chapters if y'all are wondering why I'm being strangely detailed or, conversely, making assumptions that you know what the fuck I'm talking about because I've forgotten not everyone's been to LA, it's because I literally have pictures in my mind and I'm very inconsistent about writing them out. I tried to keep it pretty general though. Hope it works. If not, apologies in advance for all three chapters.

His dad’s waiting for him at the bottom of the escalator. He’s glad for it. He’s never been to LAX and it’s confusing and there’s construction going on everywhere.

“Taiga!” His dad, an older, taller clone of Taiga himself, walks up to him and gives him a firm hug. “Your mother said you were tall, but this is ridiculous!”

Taiga grins. “Yeah. I’ve grown a lot.”

“Well, come on, let’s pick up your other bags.. You’re leg must be hurting.”

It was. Just carrying his backpack was putting a lot of strain on his body.

They pick up the luggage and walk to the parking lot. Taiga was hoping his dad had an SUV but it’s just a black sedan that he identifies as a BMW.

“How’s your English, Taiga?” he asks, once they’re settled in the car.

“It’s ok,” he replies in English. “I took classes in school.”

“Good, good. That makes it easier.”

They set off. Taiga takes in the sights and then remembers that he should be taking pictures. 

He takes a bunch, deletes the crappy ones, and sends the good ones to Daiki. 

“LA is big. And the traffic sucks,” Taiga says once they’d been on the road a full ten minutes and seemed to have gone exactly nowhere.

His dad chuckles. “Yes, indeed.”

Taiga’s phone vibrates. It’s Daiki, of course. “Hey, Daiki. Get my pictures?”

“Yeah! That car was so massive! Was that a…what’s it called…Hummer?” Taiga had seen a massive SUV he couldn’t help but take a picture of, knowing Daiki would find it amusing.

“No clue.”

“And it was yellow! Also, you didn’t call me. You texted me. I called you. Dumbass.”

Taiga laughs. God, he misses him already. Like crazy. And tells him so. “I miss you already.”

“I know. Miss you too.”

“I kinda wish you were here seeing all this.”

“Yeah. Me too.”

“…I met a really nice lady at the airport,” he says. It felt like such an important moment that he feels like he should share it with him, even if he doesn’t tell him the details. “She liked the bracelet you gave me.”

“Oh, yeah? It’s pretty sweet, huh? I told my mom I gave one to you. She was really happy.”

“She was?”

“Yeah, she said something like ‘gifts are best given from the heart’ or some crap like that. I don’t know, but it sounded pretty.”

“Yeah. It’d be cool to meet your mom at some point,” Taiga says.

“Yeah, hopefully when you get back she’ll be around at some point and I can introduce you.”

“That’d be good.”

“Yeah. Well, I’d better go back to bed now. It’s super early here.”

“Yeah, I know. Sorry.”

“It’s alright. I was waiting for you to call anyway.”

Taiga blushes. “Oh.”

“Taiga?”

“Yeah?”

“Um…have a good night and stuff. Call me when it’s not so early…unless you’re busy.”

“I won’t be too busy to call you,” he says honestly. It doesn’t matter what comes up, if Daiki wants him to call him, he’ll call him.

“Yeah, right. Trust me, at some point you’ll be having too much fun and forget all about me.”

“I could never forget all about you, stupid. Never.”

“…Oh. Heh. Wow. Um…I gotta go…Bye, Taiga. Have a good time…Who am I kidding, you’re in fucking America, of course you’ll have a good time.”

Taiga just shakes his head, trying to figure out his initial reaction. Daiki’s good at shaking things off fast, but he does slip up sometimes and let things out that he probably doesn’t mean to. He seemed…embarrassed by the comment. “…Ok, Bye Daiki.”

He hangs up and sits back. Daiki shouldn’t be so hard to figure out, but this is so complicated. _Why does this have to be so complicated?_ He sighs.

“…Who was that?” he dad asks.

“Daiki.”

“Who’s Daiki?”

Who _is_ Daiki? “My rival.”

His dad smirks. “You have a rival?”

“Yeah.”

“Didn’t sound like a rival to me,” his dad comments offhandedly, but is sounds purposeful.

Taiga shrugs, feigning composure when really he would very much like to _not_ talk about Daiki in case something stupid slips out. “Well, I guess we’re also friends.”

“Hmm.” They don’t talk for a while. After about twenty minutes on the freeway, his dad gets off and turns onto a large street. Taiga looks over and sees the ocean. “Your first appointment with Dr. Toby is tomorrow morning. I hope that’s ok.”

“That’s fine,” Truthfully, Taiga just wants to get it over with.

“Good.” His father turns onto a smaller street and finally pulls up to the driveways of a small, but cozy looking house.

“I didn’t know L.A. could be so pretty,” Taiga comments, looking at the palm trees around him.

“A lot of it isn’t. Where we are now is called Santa Monica. It’s a nice area.” His dad hands Taiga some keys. “Go ahead inside, I’ll unload the stuff from the car. The silver key.” 

“Ok.” Taiga slowly makes his way up the front walk and steps up to the door, unlocking it.

Inside is as cozy as the outside. He can tell it isn’t very big, but his dad lives here alone so that’s no surprise. Everything is colored in shades of gold and warm browns. The kitchen and dinning room are basically one room, the living room is off to the side with a big TV and a fluffy looking couch. 

There’s a hallway connecting two bedrooms and a bathroom. 

The first bedroom is very large, containing a huge bed, and Taiga wonders if it’s what they call a “California King.” The bathroom is small, but tidy and is the only room painted a cool color; a light blue with white tiles. Finally, there’s another room at the end of the hall, a smaller one with a desk, an exercise bike and a futon, among other things. He figures this’ll be his room for the next few months.

A moment later his dad confirms this as he sets down the luggage. “Sorry, I know it’s not very big.”

“No it’s fine.” Taiga says honestly. _It’s temporary after all._

“You want me to help you unpack?”

“Sure.”

As they get to work folding and putting Taiga’s things in the small closet, his father asks him about life in Japan. Just little things. How he’s been, how were his grades, is he excited about middle school. But then he stumbles onto a particularly touchy subject.

“So, you been meeting any girls Taiga?” Taiga can tell he’s mostly joking, probably hoping to get a mention of some crush or girl in his class he’s friends with, but instead he gets silence and Taiga adamantly refusing to show anything on his face. Obviously, he fails. His face is as red as his hair. “Ahaha! I’ll take that as a yes.”

Taiga shakes his head. “No, no. No girls,” he says. The bitterness of the statement punches him squarely in the chest. He hadn’t meant to sound so bitter about it. His father will notice, of course.

Sure enough, he frowns. “Really?”

Taiga looks away and nods.

His father tries going back to teasing. “Are you sure, because I swear I saw you blushing a second ago.”

Taiga’s mind kicks into overdrive as it struggles to come up with an adequate excuse for his flush. Unfortunately, he’s too tired from his trip and overdrive just isn’t good enough. “I wasn’t,” he mumbles lacking anything at all more convincing to say.

His dad keeps pushing. “Ah, come on Taiga! You can tell me! I’m your dad, that’s kinda what I’m here for.”

Taiga looks up at him. His dad probably feels bad for not raising his son. Taiga can see that. He feels that’s what it is. Talking about girls is something his father wants to do to feel closer to him. Taiga’s heart aches. 

“Fine, fine,” his father concedes. “I’ll get it out of you eventually. What about friends?”

“I had two friends at school. Yamata and Hayato. Yamata’s alright, but Hayato’s weird.” Taiga laughs a little. In truth, he’s stuck with them at lease until high school. They are all going to the same middle school. 

“Weird how?”

“He always says ‘totally’. Like, at the weirdest times.”

His dad cocks his head mid-fold. “Why?”

“No one knows.”

His dad laughs, putting away a shirt. “Ok, that is weird. What about this rival of yours?” he asks.

Taiga looks up at him in a way he hopes doesn’t broadcast his complete terror. He is pretty incapable of hiding his feelings, isn’t he? “Umm, well, his name’s Daiki. And he’s really great at basketball. Like, really great. Better than me. He wants to move to America and play in the NBA.”

“Isn’t that what you want to do?” Taiga nods, trying not to smile too much. “…That’s who you were talking to on the phone, right?”

“Uh-huh.” Taiga busies himself with a pair of pants. He folds it wrong, and then unfolds it, just so he can fold it again and not look at his father. He wonders how he sounded on the phone with him. Was it too gay? Did he sound gay?! He probably did.

His father clears his throat. “Well,” he says, getting up. “How about we order some pizza? And then I’m sure you want to get some sleep.”

“Yeah. I’m tired…but I’m super hungry.”

His father smiles faintly. “You’re always hungry.”

# ****

“Good night, Taiga. I’ll wake you up tomorrow for your appointment.”

“Oh. ‘Night dad.”

They didn’t talk much at dinner. It made Taiga extremely uncomfortable. 

He lays down on his futon, thinking about how this is going to be his life for the next three months, and sighs. Looking at the time, he realizes it’s probably not that early in Japan anymore. So he calls Daiki.

“Hey, Taiga,” he answers.

“Hi.”

“What’s up? You ok?” 

_Do I sound not ok?_ Taiga wonders. “Fine.”

“Yeah right. You miss me that much already?” he teases.

“Well, yeah, that. And…”

“What?”

“…Just. My dad and I…”

“You’re not getting along?” Daiki asks.

“It’s not that.” Taiga struggles desperately to come up with a way to explain the tension without giving away too much. If he slips up he might admit something he really shouldn’t. “He asked me about something and I don’t think he liked my answer.” That may have been too vague.

“What’d he ask?”

“Uh…”

“What part of ‘we are rivals, you can tell me anything because I won’t judge you’ don’t you understand?” Daiki demands impatiently.

“All of it.”

Daiki sighs long-sufferingly. “Can I guess?”

“Sure.” _It’s not like he’s going to get it._

“Um…your grades? I mean, your grades kinda suck right?”

Taiga frowns. “They’re not _that_ bad! And no. I mean, he kinda bitched about that, but no.”

“Ok. Um…the school you’re going to? Like, he wasn’t happy with it?”

“No.”

“No, you’re right. You’d tell me that. It has to be something you wouldn’t tell me.” Daiki could actually be very intelligent sometimes. It was frustrating because usually he’s an idiot, but he’s also the kind of person who doesn’t let things get past him, basketball related or otherwise, he always likes to block things from getting by him. Sometimes he uses brute force and demands an answer until he gives up. Sometimes he’s able to figure it out himself. Like sometimes his brain is actually working at full capacity. To be honest, Taiga is pretty sure Daiki is actually smart, he’s just lazy as shit so he doesn’t bother to think most of the time. “What wouldn’t you tell me…Is it about your injury.”

Taiga exhales a breath he didn’t know he was holding. His lungs feel strained. “No.”

“Damn. Am I close?”

“No.”

“Oh…Is it about me?” Taiga almost wishes someone were there to take a photo of him now. He’s pretty sure the look of shock on his face is comical. He actually guessed it.

He considers lying, but then…doesn’t. “Yes.”

“…Oh. Shit. What about me?” he seems like he didn’t expect to be right, like he was just throwing a haphazard guess out.

“You’re guessing, remember?” Taiga tells him.

“I have no idea…I…” then he’s silent.

“What?” Taiga asks, nervous.

“Did he hear you on the phone?” he asks.

“…Yes.”

“Oh.”

“Oh…what?” Taiga’s heart is pounding so hard he can barely breath. In fact, his heart seems to be slowly making it’s way up his throat, like it’s trying to escape out of his mouth. It can’t take it anymore. Maybe. It wants out. Taiga doesn’t blame it.

“Oh…I think…never mind.”

“No! Don’t ‘never mind’ me! That’s not fair.” He’s shaking, he knows he is. His heart crawls a little further.

“I…no. It’s…”

“What, Daiki? What? You’ve gotta tell me. You gotta.”

“I don’t wanna be wrong!” he says.

“I don’t care if you’re wrong! Just tell me!”

“He…does he think we’re gay?”

That’s it. Taiga is actually going to throw up. His heart’s going to come out along with the half a pizza he had for dinner.

“I think so.”

Daiki is really quiet for a long time. “I get that,” he says after a while.

“You do?”

“Yeah…Cause you’re so crazy about me!”

“What?!

Daiki laughs loudly. “I’m kidding! That’s stupid. Just ‘cause we’re friends doesn’t mean we’re gay. We’re not gay. I mean, we’re gonna be NBA players for crying out loud!

“Yeah…I know.”

“Chill out, Taiga. Just tell him I’m your best buddy…and don’t tell him I kissed you. Or you kissed me.”

_So he does remember._ “Why the hell would I tell him that?”

“Cause you’re dumb and it might slip out. But that would be really confusing if you told him that, you know? He might not believe you.”

“No shit.”

“So…keep it to yourself. Forever.” He emphasizes that last part. There’s an edge to it. It sounds a bit like fear.

“Of course! I wasn’t going to go and tell everyone that! Everyone would think we’re fags or something.” All the progress he’d made with Alex at the airport dissipates. He can’t be gay. Can. Not. Daiki would hate him if he was.

“Exactly…and we’re not…so…it’s fine. That I kissed you, I mean. Because I don’t like you like that, so it’s ok,” Daiki says.

“Right,” Taiga replies.

“Friends kiss friends all the time…right?” And…he’s being sarcastic. Blatantly so. And in that moment, Taiga knows that he knows, and more importantly, he knows Daiki feels it too. At least a little. It’s both a comfort and a stab to the chest. Maybe they’re not going to admit it. Ever. But it’s there. Something’s there. And they both know it.

“Right. Definitely. All the fucking time,” Taiga fake reassures him.

“Yeah, definitely, so…it’s cool. Right?” he’s asking, begging for it to be cool. 

“Way cool.” Taiga replies in english. “Way cool.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Well, that's the end of part one, hope you enjoyed. Things are about to seriously happen. The next chapter is also one of my more favorite-y ones. I really enjoyed writing it and hopefully you guys will enjoy reading it! As always, thanks for joining me and leave a comment if you'd like! (Cause y'all already know that _I'd_ like!)


	10. Photography, Part 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Guess who's back, back again? Me! Alrighty, another apology is in order: as I mentioned, I'm from LA and I'm also from a family who loves basketball, so there are many NBA references coming up. And once again, I forget, a lot of people don't watch basketball/don't live in the U.S. So I'm sorry for all the references. I hope if you're not familiar with some of the players/teams/rivalries I'm talking about, it doesn't distract too much. For the people who don't know, all that's really important for the next two chapters is that LA has two teams, the Lakers and the Clippers, the Clippers used to suck, but now they're good (partially due to Blake Griffin) and the Lakers have dominated basketball the 21st century (along with the Spurs, at least in the west). There's sort of a rivalry there now between fans. Kobe Bryant (#24) fans tend to hate LeBron James (#6 on the Heat) fans and visa versa (not always of course). They're both considered two of the greatest players so far this century. So another rivalry, though they are very different. LeBron played for the Heat (who's been dominating the past few years) for a few years and also the Cavaliers. Kobe's always been a Laker. Everything else is either not that important or explained pretty well. And in case anyone is wondering, I'm a Miami Heat fan. ENJOY!

Taiga’s dad wakes him up early the next morning.

“Time to get ready.”

Taiga’s jet lag turns the air to syrup, making it difficult to move fast, or really at all, he’s just too damn tired. He grumbles things under his breath and finally makes his way to the kitchen/dining room.

“Are those…pancakes?!” he stares at the exquisite pile of golden sugar and batter at the center of the table, energy already flooding into him.

“Yes, indeed. Dig in.”

All his grumblings from earlier dissipate in a flurry of fork, butter and pancake.

When he’s finished his dad waits for him at the front door and they head out.

In the car, his dad starts talking about Dr. Toby. “He’s a really nice guy, Taiga. And the best at what he does. He works with a lot of the best athletes here in America. He’s a friend of a friend so he agreed to work with you. Plus, I told him you’re gonna be in the NBA!” His dad nudges him cheerfully.

Taiga just nods.

“Your mother said you…didn’t really want to come for the summer,” he comments.

Taiga looks away. “It’s not that I didn’t want to see you or anything. It’s just…3 months is kind of a long time.”

His dad clears his throat. “She said you wanted to spend more time with your friend…rival…Daiki?”

Taiga shrugs. “We haven’t known each other that long so we wanted to hang out over the summer.”

“Ah.”

Taiga looks at him when he doesn’t say anything more, but it looks like the end of the conversation. Taiga sighs. 

They’re on the road about fifteen minutes before Taiga sees a sign he carefully reads as “Beverly Hills.” He’s certainly heard of the place.

“This is Beverly Hills?” he asks, looking around at the expensive looking cars, expensive looking buildings and expensive looking people.

“Yeah. Like I said, Dr. Toby works with famous athletes.”

“It…must be expensive.” Taiga begins to feel guilty about fucking up his knee. He’s caused a lot of trouble hasn’t he, and yet all he’s been thinking about is himself, his own worries, and not what this is costing his parents.

“Don’t worry about it. He not only agreed to work with you, but he’s giving us a very good deal.”

“Oh. Dad…still, I’m sorry. I’ll be more careful.” He looks down at his knee brace.

“It’s alright, Taiga, you just focus on getting better.” He pulls up to a small, white, modern looking building with bamboo plants in the front and parks by a meter. “Here we are.”

Taiga gets carefully out of the car while his dad puts money in the meter. 

It’s very hot outside. And not in a good way. The heat is dry as, well, the desert, which he guess is what Los Angeles is. He can’t imagine it ever having rained here. How do people survive?

They walk into the building and into a small waiting room that is blessedly, blessedly air conditioned. “Dr. Toby is half Japanese by the way. So if you rather speak Japanese that’s fine.” His father tells him.

“Oh, cool.” He doesn’t admit how relieved he is. He understands English pretty well, better than most of the kids in his english class, especially since he watches so many NBA games and listens to the announcers. He doesn’t even need subtitles anymore, but he doesn’t speak it as well as he’d like. 

He sits down, shifting from side to side, nervous for some reason. 

His dad speaks to the woman at the front desk briefly and then they wait.

After about five minutes, a shortish, vaguely Japanese looking man with hazel eyes steps out. He couldn’t be older than thirty-five.

“Ah, you must be Taiga!” he says in english. “And Mr. Kagami, nice to see you again.” 

“Nice to see you too, Doctor.” His father gets up and shakes his hand. “Well, go on, Taiga.”

Taiga nods and gets up slowly. “Follow me,” Dr. Toby says. “I’ll bring you in a bit later, Mr. Kagami,” he says to his father. Taiga follows him back into a room that looks a bit like a gym. It’s got all sorts of weird equipment and things in it. “Go ahead and take a seat, Taiga.” He does. “Would you prefer it if we spoke in Japanese?” Dr. Toby asks in Japanese.”

“Yeah, if that’s ok,” Taiga replies.

Dr. Toby nods. “No problem. So, tell me about what happened with your knee.”

Taiga shrugs. “It’s my fault. It’d been bothering me for a while and I just kept playing until…well I couldn’t anymore. I guess I went too far, it just…collapsed on me. It hurt really bad.”

Dr. Toby nods again. “You push yourself very hard, I gather? You’ve got big dreams, aspirations. Your dad told me you want to play for the NBA.” Taiga nods.

“Well, when you do,” and he says _when_ not _if_ , “consider playing for the Clippers, huh?”

Taiga’s eyes widen. “Not the Lakers?”

“Your dad’s a Lakers fan, so don’t tell him, but I’ve secretly been rooting for the Clippers,” Dr. Toby whispers candidly. 

Taiga grins. “They’ve been doing pretty well lately. I mean, I really like Blake Griffin.”

“Oh, Blake’s a wonderful guy. Glad they got him.”

“You’ve met him!?” Taiga feels about too full for his own body right now. His doctor has met Blake Griffin. _The_ Blake Griffin.

“Oh yeah, tons of times.”

It’s all Taiga can do not the squeal. “That’s so awesome,” he whispers.

Dr. Toby laughs. “Yeah. My job is pretty awesome. So let’s talk about you and your knee. You wanna go back to playing in three months, is that right?”

“Or less. Less is good too.”

He shakes his head but he’s fighting a smile. “Three. Months. That’s the best you’re going to get.”

Taiga huffs a sigh. “Ok. What do I have to do.”

“Well, we’re going to have a look at it. And then we’re going to come up with a work out plan for you to get your strength back and help it heal.”

Taiga nods. “Sounds good.”

“Don’t be fooled. Physical therapy isn’t easy.”

Taiga nods. “Sounds even better.”

And Dr. Toby laughs. “Oh, boy, I think he’s got what it takes.” 

Taiga grins widely. He likes Dr. Toby. He’s suddenly understand why his dad wanted him to come. This wasn’t going to be easy, but already, he trusted his doctor enough to give it his all.

He examines his knee for a while, making some notes, poking at it and making some offhand comments about the playoffs. “So, are you going to go to a finals game? The Lakers are playing the Spurs in the Western Conference this week. My husband and I are planning on going,” he clucks his tongue. “My husband’s a Lakers fan.” He rolls his eyes. “But since the Clippers are out, I guess the Lakers will have to do.”

Taiga barely hears the last part. His mind’s repeating one word over and over again like a broken record. _Husband?_

“Plus, my kids have been bugging us to take them, so…”

_Kids, too?_

“How…old are your kids?”

“Nine and eleven. Girl and a boy. They’re huge basketball fans too.”

Taiga nods. But inside he’s thinking. Thinking a lot.

“Alright, well that should do it. Let’s bring your dad in.”

They talk about Taiga’s work out regimen, how long he’s supposed to be on his feet for and the like. Dr. Toby casually puts in how, since Taiga can’t play, maybe he’d like to go to a Lakers game.”

Taiga mentally thanks him because his dad says. “Actually, that might be really fun. I’ll have to see if I can get off of work to go.”

“Sounds good,” Dr. Toby says. “Well then, I’ll see you next week Taiga. Be careful, alright?”

Taiga nods. “I will. See you! And thank you.”

“Not a problem.”

Taiga and his dad get back in the car. It’s silent for a long time.

“Hey Taiga, you alright? You’re awfully quiet.”

“Huh? Oh, yeah, sorry. I was just thinking about something.”

“Huh. So, did you like Dr. Toby?”

“I did. He’s great. He met Blake Griffin!” _And he’s gay but he still likes basketball._

“Hey! Don’t let him turn you into a Clippers fan!” Taiga just grins. He’s neutral towards both the Lakers and the Clippers. He doesn’t mention the fact that he’s secretly a Chicago Bulls fan. His dad, Dr. Toby, and Daiki would kill him. Daiki actually happens to be a die hard Lakers fan. He’d follow Kobe Bryant off a cliff.

“I won’t, I won’t. It’d be fun right? If we went. Maybe we’d see Dr. Toby and his kids and his husband there.”

“Yeah, maybe.”

Taiga nods. He’s…happy. Maybe…what if…it’s ok? Dr. Toby seems happy. And he’s a really nice guy with a great job, he’s married and has kids. A happily ever after. So maybe it’s ok. Maybe…but Daiki would still hate him. Right?

# ****

“Daiki! Guess what, guess what, guess what?” he practically squeals two hours later. 

“What, what, what?”

“My dad said he could take off work and we could see the Lakers/Spurs game on Wednesday!”

“No. Way. Oh my god, I am so fucking jealous!”

“I know! I mean, sorry, but not really!”

“Ugh, you’re an ass.”

“I’m so excited, you have no idea!” And he was. He was going to his very first NBA game. This is possibly the greatest thing that’s ever happened to him. That and meeting Daiki. “And, guess what?”

“What now?!”

“My doctor, he’s met Blake Griffin!”

“No way! I don’t even like the Clippers, but Blake is the man!”

“Yeah, way! And Dr. Toby will probably be at the game too. He even helped us get discount tickets! He’s really cool, and…” This will be a test. How will he react? “Well, he’s a Clippers fan.”

“Ew, why?”

“But his husband’s a Lakers fan.” There he said it. It’s out there. The proof. And it is proof isn’t it? You can be awesome and like basketball _and_ be gay. 

There’s silence for a second and then. “I don’t know how they can live with each other then. I mean, I would kill you if you were a Clippers fan. You’re not, right?”

Did Daiki just…connect Dr. Toby and his husband’s relationship to their own? It doesn’t go at all unnoticed by Taiga, who seems to have become oversensitive to these things. He probably didn’t mean it any way in particular, but it just sounded…“I’m not a Clippers fan.”

“Oh. Thank God…you _are_ a Lakers fan…right?”

“Uh…”

“No! No way! How could you do this to me?” Daiki screams dramatically. “We’re so over.”

“Oh, shut up.” He knows he’s joking but…

“Who’s your team? And if you say the Heat, I will kill you through the phone.”

Taiga clears his throat. In fairness, the Heat might be his second favorite. Heat or the Cavaliers, but if he tells him he’s a LeBron fan Daiki may never forgive him. “No…”

“You sure about that?”

“I’m a Bulls fan. You know, because of Michael Jordan.”

“…Oh. Ok, well then I guess I’ll let you live.”

Taiga exhales loud and exaggerated enough for Daiki to hear through the phone. “Oh, thank goodness you approve.”

“I mean, we’ll be against each other if they’re against each other, but I tend to root for the Bulls when they’re playing.”

“Yeah, and I tend to root for the Lakers if they’re playing.”

“Are you a LeBron fan?”

How’d he figure that out? The dreaded question and…Taiga had forgotten he’d even mentioned Dr. Toby and his husband. Daiki brushed it off so quick it’d gone practically unnoticed. What does that mean? Daiki didn’t care? “I…uh…”

“You better say no.”

“Shit.”

“Oh, god! Fuck you, fuck you! Kobe forever.”

“Oh shut it, Kobe’s an old man. He’s fucking done.”

“Kobe will always be king.”

“And LeBron will always be a god!”

And then Daiki is giggling. “I’m actually kinda glad. I mean, this makes us true rivals right?”

Taiga smiles. “I guess so.”

A long, bloated pause and then. “Do you think Dr. Toby and his husband are kinda like rivals?”

Everything that moves inside of Taiga, his heart, his lungs, his blood, freezes instantaneously. _Oh, my god, what is he saying?_ “…Well, maybe,” he remembered the way Dr. Toby had rolled his eyes when he said that his husband was a Laker’s fan. It was strangely familiar. “In a way, probably.”

“You’ll take lots of pictures, right? At the game I mean.”

“Yeah, of course.”

“…Cool. Good. I’m looking forward to it. Snap a picture of Kobe for me.”

“He’s not playing.”

“Well, I know that! But he’ll probably be there. You might even sit near him!”

Taiga rolls his eyes and yes, it’s a familiar reaction. “Yeah, yeah, I’ll try.”

“You’d better…”

“So, talk to you later?”

“Uh-huh. Bye, Taiga…I miss you.”

“Miss you too. I’ll text you later.”

“Ok, bye.”

They hang up. Taiga doesn’t even know what to think right now. Why did Daiki say those things? 

_I don’t know how they can live with each other then. I mean, I would kill you if you were a Clippers fan._

_Do you think Dr. Toby and his husband are kinda like rivals?_

Maybe he shouldn’t read too much into it. Maybe it means nothing, but…

His phone buzzes. It’s a text. A picture message from Daiki. Taiga opens it up. 

It’s a selfie of Daiki wearing his purple Laker’s jersey. Number 24 of course. He’s sticking his tongue out, but just barely because he’s smiling too wide. He’s got his thumb hooked through the shoulder of his jersey, proudly displaying the number. 

Taiga gets up and throws on his Heat jersey, number 6. Knows it’s dated now, but puts it on anyway just to piss him off. He takes the same selfie, tongue and thumb and all.

_Do you think Dr. Toby and his husband are kinda like rivals?_

He sends the photo.

Daiki: **fuck you**

Taiga: **And fuck you too.**

_In a way, probably._

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hope that wasn't too NBA heavy. I'm keeping it pretty basic. Next chapter on it's way tomorrow. The final part of this litter trilogy! Hope you like, thanks for reading and feel free (very free) to leave a comment! See you soon!


	11. Photography, Part 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And now for the final part of the trilogy! Thank you so much to everyone who's been commenting! I've been so motivated to write lately because of it! I'm not as ahead as I was because I did suffer a bout of writer's block and had to rewrite chapter 12 and 13 like 3 times before I was halfway satisfied but I'm happy to say I've finished chapter 14 already and am moving onto 15! Ahh, I'm loving writing this! Thank so much for the support guys! Y'all are seriously my best friends. Without further ado, the final part! Enjoy.

Taiga is vibrating in the passenger seat, unable to contain himself.

“Calm down, Taiga!” his father yells, but he sounds amused.

“I can’t calm down! I’m going to a Lakers Game!”

His dad just shakes his head. “Oh, my.”

The Staples Center is positively massive. Overwhelmingly so. But in the best possible way. Taiga takes dozens and dozens of pictures, sending them to Daiki as he goes along. Daiki responds with things like

Daiki: **fuck you**

Daiki: **i hate u so much u have no idea**

Daiki: **go to hell**

Daiki: **omg that looks awesome!**

Daiki: **i still hate u though**

Taiga just continues to cheerfully rub the experience in his rival’s face, though he starts to feel a little bad so he texts:

Taiga: **At some point we’ll be playing in this stadium so stop complaining.**

It works.

Daiki: **ur damn right!**

They finally enter the stadium and, there it is. The court. Players are already warming up, and Taiga’s definitely going to explode.

“Oh, Tatsuhiro! David! Hi,” his father’s waving.

Taiga squints and see’s Dr. Toby (Tatsuhiro?) waving back at them from a couple of rows down. Next to him is a tall black man who Taiga assumes is his husband, David. And two kids, a black boy who looks almost Taiga’s age, but not nearly his height (much to his delight) and a tiny little blond girl. Their kids.

“Come on, our seats are next to theirs.”

He and his father make their way through the stands, which isn’t easy due to his crutches, but they make it without too many accidents.

“Good to see you,” Dr. Toby says. “Glad you could come.” 

“Thanks for helping to make it happen,” his father responds.

“Yeah! Thanks a lot!” Taiga says excitedly from over his father. He’s sitting at the end so it’s easier for him to get up if he has to.

“Not a problem. Glad you’ll get to see this. Oh, by the way, this is my husband, David.” David turns at the sound of his name and gives a big grin and a wave.

“Nice to meet you!”

“And these little people here are Ben and Sarah.” They both wave too.

Taiga waves back at all of them. They all seem so nice.

“Are you excited, Taiga?” David asks him.

“So excited! I can’t believe I am here.”

He laughs. He’s got a deep booming voice. He’s a big guy. “I know the feeling. That’s how I felt at my first NBA game.”

Taiga takes in his height, skipping to a logical conclusion. “Did you play basketball?” he asks.

“I did, in college. But then I got injured. That’s actually how I met this nerd,” he jerks a thumb at Dr. Toby, who rolls his eyes. “He was just a med student at the time, working with my main doctor. Unfortunately, I wasn’t able to play for too long. So, I decide to drop it.”

“Oh.” _That’s sad,_ Taiga thinks to himself. What if that happened to him? And…David was a basketball player? Probably a really good one if he played enough college ball to get himself injured. It gives Taiga all kinds of weird hope. “I’m sorry,” he says.

David shakes his head. “Oh, it’s alright. Anytime I’m feeling sorry for myself, I just remind myself I wouldn’t have my family if it weren’t for that injury. In a way, I guess loving basketball gave me everything I wanted, just not in the way I always thought,” he shrugs like it’s the simplest thing in the world.

Taiga wishes he understood more. There was something so simple about that. Enviably simple. _Is it that simple?_ Could Taiga look at something like that the way David could? See a gift in a tragedy? He hopes so.

The cheerleaders come out in their shiny gold outfits and start to dance.

“Pretty nice, right Taiga? When you play for the NBA you’ll have cheerleaders dancing for you!” his father says.

Taiga just looks at his phone, intending to take a picture of them to send to Daiki and then deciding against it. He doesn’t want him gushing all over them or anything.

“I thought you were taking a picture,” his father says, catching Taiga as his locks his phone and sets it in his lap. 

“…Oh, I was, but I thought that’d be weird,” he says, mostly truthful.

“Why? Nothing weird about it. Go for it!”

Taiga shakes his head. “Nah.”

His dad frowns. “What kid doesn’t want a picture of the Laker Girls on his phone?” he says quietly, but just loud enough for Taiga to hear. He wanted him to hear it.

“Me,” he says stubbornly. “Something wrong with that?” he snaps, frustrated. So what, he doesn’t want a picture of some cheerleaders. So. What? Why does that have to be wrong?

“Maybe,” his father snaps back.

Taiga’s eyes widen and he bites his lip, looking down at his feet. He knows his dad wasn’t really saying anything specific but…it felt like there was something buried in the statement. Something akin to “Not liking girls isn’t ok.” It stings. Badly.

He looks around, trying to distract himself, when he sees Kobe Bryant just a few rows in front of them. He’s not even a Kobe fan and still he nearly screams. “Oh, shit!” he whispers, taking up his phone, zooming in as much as he can, and snapping a picture. It’s actually pretty decent. He got him amidst a conversation with someone, he’s laughing a bit at whatever they said. 

He’s about to send the picture when he hears David say “Oh, look, it’s Kobe. I should say hi.”

Taiga’s about to hyperventilate. “You know Kobe?” he asks.

“Yeah, sure do,” David replies likes it’s no big deal even though it’s the biggest fucking deal in the entire world. “Wanna meet him?”

“YES!” This is not happening.

David chuckles. “Come on, I’ll introduce you.”

Taiga stands. He’s never been so simultaneously nervous and excited ever in his life.

David leads him down to where Kobe is sitting.

“Kobe!” he says. 

Kobe turns around. “Well, well, David Williams. How’s it going man?” his gives his hand a shake.

“It’s going pretty good. I hope you don’t mind, I brought a friend of mine to meet you. This is Taiga, he’s a future NBA superstar from Japan.”

Kobe stands. “Well, good to meet you, future NBA superstar,” Kobe says, and reaches over to shake his had. Taiga shakes Kobe Bryant’s hand. He might faint. “How old are you Taiga?”

“T-twelve,” he answers.

“Just twelve? You’re pretty tall.” Kobe Bryant called him tall. He will faint. “Did you hurt your leg playing ball?” he asks.

Taiga nods. “Yes. Can’t play for three months,” he mopes.

Kobe laughs. “I know that feeling.”

“Would you mind…taking photo with me? My rival is big fan.”

“You’ve got a rival already?” Taiga nods hurriedly and pulls up the selfie Daiki took on his phone to show to him. Kobe laughs. “I like him,” he says. “What about you? You look like a LeBron fan.”

Taiga blushes. He doesn’t know what a LeBron fan is supposed to look like, and while part of him is pleased that he actually _looks_ like a LeBron fan, he feels bad because he’s currently talking to Kobe Bryant.

“I knew it,” Kobe says, but it’s good natured. Taiga shows him the picture of him in the Heat jersey. Kobe says, “Let’s take a selfie like that!”

Taiga nods. “Perfect!” Then Daiki will know it’s just for him. 

He hands Kobe his phone and Kobe holds it out. They both grin, stick their tongues out, and hook their thumbs in their jackets. 

He snaps the picture.

It’s perfect.

“Thank you very much!” Taiga says.

“You’re welcome. You keep up the good work, I hope to see your rival playing for my team in a few years.” He winks. “And you playing for the east coast. Heat, maybe. You could meet in the finals.”

Taiga nods. That’s exactly what he wants. 

“I’ll see you, David.”

“Yeah, thanks a lot man.”

They go back to their seats. Taiga can’t believe that actually happened.

“You met Kobe Bryant!” his father yells.

Taiga nods vigorously and pulls out his phone. He _has_ to send the photo to Daiki. Now.

Taiga: **I got something for you…** he sends along with the photo.

All of five seconds later, Daiki calls him.

Taiga picks up. Thankfully the game hasn’t started yet. “Taiga! Oh my god! I can’t even breath. Oh my god! How?”

“Dr. Toby’s husband knows him.”

Daiki sounds like _he’s_ hyperventilating. “You guys…that…looks like my selfie!”

“Yeah, duh. I showed it to him.”

“You did?!”

“Yeah. He liked it. I told him about you. He wants you to play for the Lakers.”

“He…oh god. I’m going to die. Taiga, oh my god, I love you.”

Taiga freezes. And then takes advantage. “I’m sorry, what’d you say?”

“You dick! I. Love. You.”

He actually says it again. This is too good to be true. “One more time, I still can’t hear you.”

“I’ll fucking kill you, you ass. Hear me that time?” he’s laughing hysterically.

“Yes, I heard you…I love you too.”

“Obviously. You got Kobe Bryant to take a selfie for me! You’re…the best.”

“I thought you said you were the best?”

“We’re both pretty best, ok?”

“Yeah. We are.”

“Holy crap. Wait. You said Dr. Toby’s husband knows him. How?”

“He used to play.”

“No way! Pro?”

“No. College. He was injured so he had to stop playing.”

“Oh. That’s too bad.”

“He doesn’t seem too upset…he said he wouldn’t have met Dr. Toby otherwise.

“Oh…well…that’s really nice then.”

“Yeah. I think so.”

“Actually, that’s probably the most romantic thing in the whole world.”

“What is?”

“…Falling in love because of basketball.”

“…Oh.”

Silence.

Taiga would give anything to be talking to him face to face right now. To know what his face looked like when he said it.

“I think so too.”

“…you do?”

“Yes.” The lights go down. The game’s about to start. “Hey…I gotta go. The game’s starting.”

“Ok, ok. Have fun. Take notes.”

“Yeah, yeah. Bye.”

“Bye.”

They hang up. Taiga tries very hard to watch the game and take notes in his mind, but his mind’s too crowded with things. With meeting Kobe Bryant, finding out David was a gay basketball player, and Daiki outright saying he loves him even though it was mostly just a joke. Probably.

So many things. 

He grins like an idiot the entire game. Especially when the Lakers win. Because Daiki will be happy. Only because Daiki will be happy. No other reason at all.

# ****

There was a raffle after the game for a signed, gold Lakers jersey, #24. Taiga went ahead and entered it.

He lost. Apparently his luck had run out.

David and Dr. Toby’s daughter on the other hand, won.

“Lucky!” Ben said. She’d shrugged like it was no big deal. Taiga laughed.

He and his father part ways with David, Dr. Toby, and their kids in the parking lot.

“Thank you so much,” Taiga says in Japanese, bowing.

“You’re welcome. I’m really happy you came,” Dr. Toby says.

“And thank you,” he says in English to David.

“No problem. The look on your face when you met Kobe was priceless.” 

Taiga nods. “It was nice meeting you all.”

Sarah and Ben wave bye and start to walk away, but then Sarah turns back.

“Do you want this?” she asks, holding up the jersey she’d won.

“What?!”

“I’ve already got one,” she says.

“No way!”

David nods. “She bugged me for a month to get them to sign one for her. I couldn’t say no. Neither could they.” Sarah smiles innocently. She reminds him very vaguely of Daiki for no other reason than that she seems like she always gets what she wants. Also, she must be a Lakers fan.

“Are you sure?” he asks her.

She nods. “Yeah, you can have it. Here you go.” She hands it over. _I guess my luck hasn’t quite run out after all._

“Thank you very much,” he says gratefully.

She smiles. “I like giving presents.” It seems to be a very good reason to her, because she nods once, turns around and marches off. “The Lakers are better than the Clippers,” she says to her brother. 

Ben scowls at her. “Don’t start.”

“That’s my boy!” Dr. Toby says, patting his head. He gives one final wave and says “See you next week,” and then they’re gone.

Taiga gets in the car, vibrating again. His adrenaline is pumping and he’s pissed because he can’t run it off.

“So, did you have a good time?”

“Yes! The best time of my life,” Taiga responds honestly. It really was. Everything was perfect. “Daiki’s gonna be so happy! I’m totally gonna give him the jersey.”

“That’s good. I’m glad,” but his dad sounds distracted.

“Everything ok, dad?”

“Oh, yes. Everything’s fine.”

Taiga nods, but he know’s his father’s lying. He just doesn’t know why.

# ****

The next week, Taiga goes back to Dr. Toby’s office and they start doing some of the exercises. It isn’t easy. It hurts. But he knows it will be worth it.

The weeks go by pretty quickly. His visits to Dr. Toby become more frequent as his knee heals. 

Daiki calls and texts all the time, of course. The Lakers ended up winning the championship so Daiki seems to be on a high at all times. 

Taiga wonders if he will ever get tired of hearing his voice. Probably not.

One morning though on the way to Dr. Toby’s after a phone call to Daiki, his father ruins his good mood.

“You know, you call him an awful lot.”

Taiga, just nods, looking out the window, wondering if he should take a photo for Daiki. It’s a rare cloudy day in late July. It almost looks like it’s going to rain.

“I spoke to your mother.”

Taiga lifts his phone and holds it as steady as possible to get a good picture of the sky. “‘Bout what?”

“About you and him.”

He takes the picture before he really hears his dad’s response. He frowns, swiping through filters. It’d look better in black and white. “What about us?” he tries to refrain from sounding defensive and fails epically.

His dad’s quiet for a long time.

The photo _does_ look better in black and white.

“She said you…kissed him,” his father sounds comically confused. Like he doesn’t believe it. Like he wants Taiga to tell him how silly that is.

Instead Taiga says, “I did. But he kissed me first.” He’s breaking his unofficial promise to Daiki to not talk about that. He doesn’t care right now.

“Why…would you…?” he trails off, leaving an incomplete question hanging in the air.

“Why would I what?”

“You can’t do that, Taiga,” he says firmly.

“Why?” he knows why. He asks anyway.

“Why?! You’re going to make me explain this to you?”

Taiga sends the photo and turns to his dad, eyes blazing. “Yes.” _Let him say it._

“You can’t just kiss boys, Taiga.”

“I can’t? Why?” he plays stupid. His anger builds.

“Because! You know why, Taiga. You don’t do that.”

Taiga squints. “Really? Because I did.” _Tell me._

“Well, don’t.”

“What if I want to?”

“ _Don’t_ want to!”

“Why not!?” he yells. “Why can’t I want to, dad?”

“Because it’s not…”

“Not what? Normal?”

“Well…”

“I know that! Don’t tell me that!” his anger breaks into sadness. He’s going to cry. He has to keep it in. “Don’t tell me it’s not normal. Don’t tell me not to do it. Don’t tell me not to want to. I know, I know, I know, ok? It’s not my fault. It’s not.” _Don’t cry. Don’t cry. Don’t cry._ “Please, don’t say it’s my fault,” he whispers.

His father’s silent. 

“It’s not…right?”

His father doesn’t answer him.

They’re at Dr. Toby’s office.

Taiga stares at him and then away so fast he makes himself dizzy. He gets out of the car. Eyes swimming with tears. He’s been going in alone lately anyway while his father runs errands before work.

He goes straight into Dr. Toby’s office as he’d been doing the past few weeks. Dr. Toby is always waiting for him.

“Good morning Taiga…Taiga? You ok?”

Taiga shakes his head and sits down heavily. His face feels full of tears that need to leave. He should cry them out, but he doesn’t want to.

“What’s the matter?” Dr. Toby sits next to him.

_Tell the truth. If anyone will understand, it’s Dr. Toby._ “My dad thinks I’m gay and he’s mad at me. I think he blames me.”

Dr. Toby’s eyes widen. He was clearly not expecting that. “Oh…are you?”

“Yes. No. I don’t know. Maybe.”

“You said you’re dad _thinks_ you’re gay. Why does he think that?”

“Because…my rival…my friend…Daiki, I guess…we’re really close.”

“I see.” He nods.

“And, sometimes I don’t know how I feel about him. I don’t know, but…my dad keeps treating me weird. Like, he’s always pointing out how great girls are every chance he gets. He yelled at me in the car this morning because my mom told him that I kissed Daiki.”

Dr. Toby nods some more.

“I asked him if he blamed me but…he wouldn’t answer.”

Dr. Toby sighs. “I realized I was gay at about your age, you know. But I kept it to myself until I was sixteen. I couldn’t bear telling my parents. When I finally did, they weren’t…disappointed, so much as concerned.”

“Concerned?”

“Yes. They were afraid my life would be harder because of it. That I would have to struggle more.”

“And is it harder?”

“It is. I won’t lie to you. But I knew that they meant well, even when they were asking me over and over again if I was sure, if maybe I was wrong, if there was a chance I’d fall for a woman. And time and time again I patiently told them, no, I’m gay and that’s that. Now I’m married and have two beautiful children and frankly they couldn’t be happier…then again, I’m not an only child. I have an older brother and sister, so one gay kid wasn’t that awful. For you…well, not that I agree with what your father was insinuating, but I do understand where he’s coming from at least. You’re father doesn’t have a problem with gay people, he just has a problem with his only son being gay.”

“But…what if I am? What do I do?”

“You do what feels right. When you know for sure, you tell them and hope for the best. You be patient with them, as patient as you can be, and hope they will come to terms with it the way you have. That’s all you can do.”

“What did David do? It must have been hard since he was a basketball player.”

“Actually, David is bisexual, and most people didn’t know that until he’d already quit and started dating me.”

“Oh.”

“But to be honest, most people were pretty supportive. Sometimes it seems worse than you can even imagine. Other times it’s much, much better than you expect.” Taiga looks down. Right now, this feels worse. “What about Daiki?”

Taiga looks up. “I’m not sure at all. I think…he knows. He kinda made it seem like he knows. And I think…maybe…he might feel the same way. But I’m not sure.”

Dr. Toby laughs a little. “We’re never sure. I remember, I thought for the longest time ‘there’s no way in hell that David Williams likes me or even know who the hell I am.’ Turns out, he was, as he puts it ‘admiring me from afar’ for months.”

Taiga laughs and some tears escape his eyes. He wipes them away. “That’s nice.”

“Yeah, I thought so. He’s a big, intimidating basketball player on the outside, but on the inside he’s a big softy.”

“Sounds like Daiki…”

“Oh, really? They always get you.”

“Yeah, I guess they do…”

# ****

The ride back home is awkward to say the least. 

“Taiga,” his father says when their halfway home. Taiga doesn’t want to talk to him.

“What?”

“I’m sorry. For what I said.”

“Which thing?”

“Actually, I should be saying I’m sorry for what I didn’t say. I don’t blame you. I could never blame you.”

Taiga just nods.

“I’m more…blaming myself I think. That’s why I didn’t answer.” He takes a breath. “I’m wondering if it’s my fault. I wasn’t there for you. You didn’t have a father figure in your life. I just keep wondering if I made a mistake.”

Taiga looks at him out of the corner of his eye. “What does that have to do with anything?” he asks.

His dad looks puzzled. “What?”

Taiga shrugs. “I’m pretty sure I’d still feel like this even if you were there. I don’t think that would change it. Or, I don’t know how it could.”

“Maybe not having a father figure is part of it. No male influence it could…affect you.”

“Really?” It sounded kind of strange to Taiga. Not quite right. What he feels comes from someplace altogether deeper than something like that could reach.

His father just shrugs. “I don’t have a problem with gay people or anything. I’m sure you know that. It’s just…you’re still young Taiga, you shouldn’t make decisions like this now.”

“It isn’t a decision, dad.”

“I know, I know, not entirely.”

“Not at all.”

“I’m just saying that you still have time to work this all out.”

“And if I don’t work it out? What if I’m gay, dad? What will you do?”

“Let’s not say that, you don’t know anything yet. I mean, you don’t seem…I just mean I don’t think…”

“Why not? Because I play basketball?” Funnily enough, he’d though the same thing not too long ago.

“Not only that. You just don’t-“

“David played basketball,” Taiga interrupts.

“David isn’t gay.” _So, he knows._

“Yeah, but he’s married to a man.”

“Well, if you had to choose, a man or a woman, I’m assuming you’d make the smart choice.”

“Smart choice?”

“Yes, if you can choose then it’s not a big deal. You choose a woman.”

That makes no sense. “But David didn’t.”

“David choose the harder option.”

“Yeah, because he loves Dr. Toby. It’s worth it. What if I love a man?”

“Taiga-“

“What if? Say I like both, but I love a man, are you telling me to just…not?”

“I…yes. I think I am.”

“That’s dumb.”

“It’s not. It’s smart.”

“I don’t think I’m bisexual,” Taiga says testily.

“You…what? Why?”

“I think I’m gay.”

“Taiga-“ 

“I do.” He’s not sure if he does, but he’d really like to piss his father off.

“Why?”

“I’ve never liked a girl. I never even cared about girls.”

“You’re still young.”

“When did you start caring about girls?”

“That’s not important.”

Taiga laughs. “Of course it isn’t,” he says sarcastically. “Because you were my age, right? Or younger? So you knew you were straight. I bet you never even wondered.”

“…No. I didn’t,” his father concedes.

“So what if I already know?”

“Taiga-“

“What if I’m already sure?”

“You’re not!”

“Why not!?”

“Because…it’s too soon! You can’t say things like that yet, Taiga. You just can’t.”

They’re home.

“I can say what I feel and I feel like a fucking faggot!” he yells. He gets out of the car, no longer needing crutches, unlocks the door with the key his dad made for him, and storms to his room, locking the door behind him. He finally starts to cry.

On his phone there is one unread message.

Daiki: **that’s a great pic. the sky looks the same here too. it’s like we’re both in the same place again.**

He sends a picture of the sky in Japan. It looks identical.

_If only that were true._

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So...I was going to warn you about the angst but then I thought that'd be kinda spoiler-y so I didn't. I'm sorry! Sad ending, I know. And probably not where you thought is was gonna end? On the bright side, new chapter is still coming out on saturday! That's good, right? Let me know what you thought! Love you guys! *blows kisses*


	12. Crafts

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Wassup wassup wassup! THANK YOU FOR ALL THE COMMENTS GUYS! I'm like dying. You guys are gonna kill me. And so many kudos too! I'm just- *faints.* Ok, I'm good now. So the last chapter ended on an angst-y note. I'm sorry. But, there's fluff at the end of the tunnel. Promise. I rewrote this and the next chapter like three times before I was happy. And to be honest, this is almost exactly what I wrote the first time around anyway. First thought, best thought. So here it is, hope y'all like it!

It’s Taiga’s birthday today. 

He and his father have barely spoken since their argument a week ago. In fact, Taiga’s barely spoken to anyone, including Daiki.

He’s been ignoring his calls and blowing off his texts. 

He finally answers on his birthday though.

“Hi.”

“What. The. Fuck. Taiga. You were freaking me out?! Are you ok?”

“No.”

“…Oh. Shit, what’s wrong? Tell me what’s wrong.”

“No.”

“What do you mean ‘no?!’” He screeches.

“I mean no. I’m not telling.”

“You’re always doing that!”

“Whatever.”

“Shit…I really was worried…wait…are you mad at me?”

“No.”

“Are you sure? ‘Cause that’s usually why people blow each other off.”

“I’m not mad at you.” It’s not entirely true. He’s spent the week alternating between blaming his dad, blaming himself, and blaming Daiki. If he never met Daiki, would it still be like this? Maybe he’d have more time. Maybe this trip wouldn’t have been ruined. 

Then again, half the fun was telling Daiki about it and sending him photos so he can’t really be mad it him. He knows it’s pointless to be mad at him anyway.

“…Fine. Ok. I…called to tell you happy birthday.”

“Thanks. I’m kinda surprised you remembered.” To be honest, Taiga isn’t in a particularly celebratory mood. 

“Fuck off. Of course I remembered. I’m not an asshole.”

“Yeah, you kinda are.”

“Shut the fuck up. But really, Taiga, what’s wrong?”

“I told you, I’m not telling you.”

“Did you check your mail?”

“What?” Daiki’s abrupt changes in topic are usually off putting but this is a whole new level of abrupt.

“Check your mail and call me after.”

And then he hangs up. 

Taiga, intensely confused, complies.

Sure enough, there’s a thick envelope with his name on it under the mail slot. From Daiki, of course. 

He opens it. It’s a birthday card. One that’s probably meant for a much younger kid. It’s got basketballs on it though, so points for effort. And then there’s a big, folded piece of paper inside of it. He unfolds it.

It’s a poster sized collage of every photo Taiga sent to him. He almost starts crying it’s so pretty.

It’s crafted from all the moments they didn’t spend together, and yet, somehow it seems to make up for those moments just by existing. It brings them together again. He brought those pictures together in his own messy way and it’s like their relationship is on the poster. It is the collage. Separate, but together.

On the back in bright red pen it says:

“I won’t forget when you went to American if you won’t, but I miss you so much, so fuck America, just come home already you idiot. Happy Birthday \- love, Daiki.”

That’s so like him. Exactly the kind of present he would give. He probably doesn’t even know how much it means to Taiga. It’s perfect and beautiful and he loves it. Also, Daiki wrote “love” on it. That’s got to count for something.

“I love it,” he says when he calls him back.

“I know,” he sounds like he’s got a shit-eating grin on.

“You’re an ass.”

“Shut up, dickface. In fairness, my mom helped,” he admits.

“She did?”

“Yeah. She liked the pictures.”

“Really? I mean, you showed them to her?”

“Sure did.”

“Oh. Well…thanks Daiki. I really love it.”

“Yeah. No problem. Hey…listen, I get it if you don’t wanna talk about what’s wrong and stuff right now, but at some point I hope you realize that I won’t judge you. I mean, I will, but not like everyone else. Know what I mean?”

“No.”

Daiki sighs. “Whatever. If I call you later will you fucking pick up the phone?”

“Yeah.”

“Promise?” he presses.

“Yes. I promise.”

“‘Kay,” he says, sounding satisfied, “Bye.”

# ****

The day has finally come. 

He’s leaving. Going back home to Japan.

Going back home to Daiki.

He and his dad don’t speak in the car. They’ve only said what is absolutely necessary to each other. He doesn’t know if he can forgive his dad for the things he said, even after talking to Dr. Toby, he just doesn’t know if he can find that patience. He does’t have it in him.

He’d heard his dad arguing with his mom late one night. About him. From the sound of it, his mother sounded upset with her husband’s behavior. His dad spent to whole argument justifying what he’d said.

“Listen! He’s too young to know that yet…no…yes, I know that but, still…he’s barely thirteen he can’t be thinking about things like that yet, it isn’t appropriate…well, no…that’s not what I mean…or maybe it is, but…I just said what I felt and I don’t think I’m wrong…No! I didn’t mean-“

Taiga couldn’t really stand to listen to it, however, he took some comfort in knowing that it seemed his mother was against some of the things his father said to him. It sounded like she was at least mostly on his side and he really, really hopes he’s right.”

“Taiga-“ he starts when they arrive at the drop off at LAX.

Taiga cuts him off. “No,” he says.

“I don’t want us to end on this note, son.”

“You can’t fix it now.”

“I…know that.”

Taiga nods and without another word, leaves him there, each step taking him closer and closer to somewhere he wants to be. He doesn’t look back. Doesn’t want to see his father’s face because he’s afraid he might pity him.

# ****

“Hey! Little sir!”

That sounds…he turns. “Alex?”

“That’s right! You remember!” the pretty blonde American, the very first to give him hope. How could he forget?

“I’m surprised you remember _me_ ,” Taiga says, walking up to her. He imagines she sees tons and tons of people everyday.

“Of course. How are things? You still way cool? You’re way taller, that’s for sure.”

Taiga feels himself light up a bit. “I am?”

She laughs. “You stupid kids in the summer! You grow like crazy. You’re definitely taller.”

Well at least that was something he wanted to hear. Maybe he’s even _taller_ than Daiki now. Maybe it would give him an edge in basketball. “That’s good,” he says.

“Is everything else good?” she asks.

He shakes his head.

“Oh. Sorry, little sir.”

He shrugs. “I still…don’t know what to do sometimes.”

“None of us do,” she sighs.

“…but, I’m working on it. I’ll try to stay cool,” he tells her.

“Way cool! Just remember this: when in doubt, kisses solve everything!”

He looks at her funny, but she just nods encouragingly. He laughs a little, thinking that can’t possibly be true, waves goodbye, the reminder of how she’d made him feel helped a bit. 

_Daiki and Taiga. Sounds good to me._

His mom’s waiting just beyond the checkpoint for him.

“Taiga!” She squeals, running over to him and wrapping him in a very tight hug. “I missed you so much…Oh my god, are you taller than me?!” He nods. He is. “Oh, goodness,” she says, shaking her head. “How’s your leg?”

“Better than ever.”

“Good, good! I’m so happy!” she pauses awkwardly, just staring at him. Finally she says, “Well, let’s get going, hmm?”

Taiga nods. 

He didn’t talk to his mom much while he was away. Just periodic calls full of “how are you doings” and “what are you up to’s.” He feels kinda bad. 

“I missed you too mom,” he says belatedly.

“Oh, no. I’m sure sure you weren’t even thinking of me. And that’s fine. I heard you had a great time. You went to a game right?”

He nods.

“Your dad told me about that. It sounded amazing!”

Taiga wonders what else he told her, but he doesn’t bring it up and neither does she. He figures she will at some point, if he doesn’t bring it up himself soon, but she’ll give him time first. She’s like that. Considerate in that way.

“It was amazing. Probably the best day ever.”

“Oh, that’s great! I’m glad. And you’re leg’s all better, too!” She seems pretty happy. He definitely isn’t going to bring it up. It would bring her down. And him too. “Well, we should get going. You’ve got to be exhausted.”

Once in the car, something hits him. “Mom, what day is it?”

“Wednesday?”

“No, I mean, the date?”

“August 31st.”

“Do you think you can drop me off at the basketball courts?”

“What? Why? Taiga, you just got home!”

“I know but…it’s Daiki’s birthday.”

“Oh, it is?”

He nods vigorously.

“Oh…ok then. Do you have a present for him?”

He has his backpack in his lap. He pulls the jersey he’d gotten from Sarah out. “Oh, wow! You’re dad didn’t mention that. Did you win it?”

“I didn’t. Dr. Toby’s daughter did. She already has one so she gave it to me. She said she likes giving presents…I guess, I kinda wanna give it as a present to.”

His mother smiles. “That’s really nice Taiga. It’s a shame Daiki wasn’t around for your birthday.”

“Yeah, but he sent me something.”

“Oh, did he? What?”

Taiga pulls the collage from his backpack as well.

His mom looks at it at a stop light. “Did he make this?”

“Him in his mom. I took the photos though. I’d sent them to him.”

“This is so nice!”

“I know.” He smiles to himself and takes it back. She didn’t flip it over, which is good. The message is his.

“He’s very thoughtful,” she says.

“No…well, I guess he can be. When he wants to be.”

She smiles and then it’s quiet, but it’s a comfortable enough quiet. They’re both in their own heads. “Are you sure he’s here?” she asks as they approach the courts.

“I’m sure. Can you leave me here? I wanna surprise him.” He’s sure he’s on the back court.

“Ok…have fun.” 

“Thank you,” he says. He’s saying thank you for a variety of things. Not all of which he’s fully aware of.

He finds Daiki exactly where he expected to. He watches him for a little while. Reminding himself of the way he moves. He’d missed it.

He tip toes quietly up to him while his back is turned and then pokes him hard. “Oh, my god!” Daiki squeals, making a hilarious face.

Taiga laughs. He actually sounded like a girl. “Hey!” he says through his fit of giggles.

“You!? The fuck are you doing here?” Daiki asks, still breathing hard from the scare.

“I came to say happy birthday.”

“I didn’t know you were back.”

“I didn’t tell you. Just for that reaction.”

“Ugh. Asshole.”

Taiga just grins. “I’m here,” he says like he can’t believe it.

“You are.” And then he drops the ball and wraps his arms around him tightly. They both breath a breath that sounds like “finally.” Taiga missed the way he smells. Then he realizes that’s weird, but still, he inhales deeply, content.

“Wait a second…” then he pushes Daiki back a little, horrified. “Are you…taller than me?”

Daiki stares at him, then down, then back up again. “Oh. Yeah, I think so.”

“What the fuck?” He’d been expected to be much taller than Daiki, but somehow Daiki had passed him.

And Daiki laughs. “Yes! Fucking yes! I’m taller than you!” Taiga pouts, not happy about this one bit. “Don’t pout,” Daiki says very seriously.

“Why?”

“Just…don’t,” he says looking away. He can’t possibly be blushing?

Taiga pouts some more, sticking his lip out further just to bother him. Taiga thinks he likes making him blush. A lot.

Daiki flails his arms at him. “No!” Taiga laughs. “Fuck you…let’s…play basketball?”

“Thought’d you’d never ask.”

“Your knee’s all better now right?”

“Hell yeah!”

“Good…I missed our games.”

They play for about an hour. They don’t keep score. It feels so right. Amazing really. He hadn’t realized the ache to get back on the court that had been present in his body these last three months. It dissipates in a instant.

He’s rusty, but Daiki doesn’t go easy on him. It’s good. Eventually he gets his rhythm back and it’s like he never left. Though…Daiki does seem even better than before. More graceful maybe, like he’s grown into himself a bit. He’s far less gangly. It looks good on him. The time apart looks good on him.

Taiga both hates and loves this.

Finally, he sits down and says. “I’ve got a gift for you.” He digs around in his bag.

“You do?” Daiki asks, sitting beside him. Close, as per usual. Taiga’s glad for it.

“Yeah,” he pulls the jersey out.

“Oh, no. Oh, god. How?” Daiki’s eyes balloon to massive size as he takes the jersey in his hands, lightly running over the signatures with his fingers.

“Dr. Toby’s daughter won it. She ended up giving it to me because she’s already got one. I figured you’d like it.”

“I…oh my god, I love you,” he breaths.

Taiga just stares at him. He said it again. Outloud. Right the fuck in front of him. And with a crazy sparkle in his wild eyes and a smile threatening to outdo the setting sun. 

“You’re the best.”

Taiga clears his throat. “Yeah. I think I am.”

Daiki turns to him. “You look…happy.”

“I think I am.”

Daiki smiles, scoots closer to him, looks around, and plants a very quick, unexpected kiss on his cheek. “Me too.” He bites his lip and looks away nervously, then he just grins. “Friends kiss friends, right?”

Taiga turns red. He doesn’t think he could possibly turn any redder. All the blood in his body has moved to his face. He grins stupidly at him and leans against his shoulder. 

Yeah, he’s happy. 

And Daiki is happy. 

And everything is perfect.

“All the fucking time.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you guys so much for reading! Are they hella cute? Cause sometimes I think so. I'm getting a bit stuck now because I'm so invested and I want everything perfect! Ahh! Double edged sword, but I'm enjoying writing this fic so much, and you guys make it even better! So leave a comment if you like and I'll be right back at ya with another chapter on Tuesday! Laters.


	13. Scrapbooking

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And here I am! Thank you for the comments on this past chapter! I died a little. I was so happy I forgot to breath! Woo! So, just, thank you. I can't say that enough. Here's the next chapter! I've been so excited to post this one (I just finished chapter 16 at this point, but I've been anxiously awaiting the day I get to post this chapter). So...enjoy!

It’s the first day of school and Taiga’s nervous, but excited of course.

He’d spent the rest of the week with Daiki, mostly playing basketball and virtually nothing else. They were making up for lost time. 

Taiga now stretches before and after they play, if he forgets, Daiki yells at him. 

In other words, things are perfect and back to normal. Or, normal after Daiki came into his life. Taiga hasn’t talked about the elephant in the room since returning. The more he doesn’t think about it the more it fades into the background. His mom hasn’t brought it up yet and Daiki doesn’t seem inclined to discuss it at all, so much so that Taiga almost wonders if he does actually know there is something to discuss. Daiki could be dense, but Taiga is pretty sure he knows there’s…something with them. Something special. But he’s afraid of it and Daiki probably is too. Thus, they don’t talk about it.

Teiko Middle School isn’t all that close, so Daiki has to take the bus.

Kamizaki Junior High is within walking distance, in the same direction as the bus stop, so they can walk there together before they have to part ways.

“Hey, Taiga?” Daiki says when they reach the bus stop.

“Hmm?”

“Can we meet here after school? There’s somewhere I wanna take you.”

Taiga blushes. He feels like he’s been doing that too much lately. “Sure. Where?”

“It’s a surprise,” Daiki grins slyly.

“…Ok?”

The bus comes too quickly. Daiki sighs. “Gotta go…I’ll see you after school, ‘kay?”

“Yeah…have fun.”

Daiki sticks out his tongue. “Yeah, right.” He waves and then disappears into the bus. Taiga watches it go before he heads off to school.

Taiga wonders for a bit where it is that Daiki wants to take him after school, then realizes that he really doesn’t care all that much, as long as he’s going somewhere with Daiki, they could go just about anywhere and he would be happy.

He makes the rest of the walk to school, heart beating a bit fast as it does when he’s anxious. He figures school won’t be all that bad considering a lot of people from his elementary school are also going to Kamizaki. He sighs. It’ll probably just be a repeat of the six boring years he spent at his elementary school. He wishes Daiki was with him at least, or better yet, that he was with Daiki at Teiko. Then again, they wouldn’t be able to play against each other if they were teammates so maybe it’s for the best.

Taiga approaches the school, tugging the collar a bit on his uniform. He isn’t big on the burgundy tie. He wonder’s what’ll happen if he just stops wearing it altogether.

“Yo, Taiga!”

Taiga turns, “Oh, hey Yamata, Hayato.”

“How was your summer in America?” Yamato asks.

“Was it totally awesome? Hayato asks.

“It was…alright I guess. I did some fun things.”

“Cool. Ugh, I hate having to go back to school. It’s gonna suck.”

“Totally.”

Taiga nods. “Yeah, for sure.”

“Hey, how’s that friend of yours? What’s his name…Daiki?”

“…Oh, yeah he’s good. We’ve been hanging out and stuff. He goes to Teiko.”

Yamata and Hayato stare at him. “Oh, shit. Teiko? Is he gonna join the basketball team?”

“Yeah.”

“You know Teiko’s like the king right?”

Taiga frowns. “Of course I know that!”

“Why aren’t you going? You totally love basketball,” Hayato points out completely unnecessarily.

“My, uh, grades weren’t good enough,” he mumbles, ashamed. If only he did better in math, he might have had a shot. History, too. Oh, and Japanese.

“Bummer,” Yamata says. “Well, at least you’ve got us! Come on.” He gives him a little shove towards the building. 

All Taiga could think about was the fact that this building was the reason he wasn’t with Daiki right now. This “school” thing was why he couldn’t hang out with him twenty-four-seven. Stupid school.

He checks his phone. Seven more hours until he can see Daiki. Seven long ass hours.

# ****

First things first though, joining the basketball club. 

Taiga wanders around until he finds the club table. 

“Hey!” a boy calls. “You thinking of joining?” he asks as Taiga approaches.

Taiga nods. “Yeah.”

“Good, cause you’re really fucking tall.”

Taiga beams.

“I’m Inoue Tomoya by the way. Second year. This is the captain. Hinakata Daisuke. He doesn’t talk much, right captain?” The captain grunts his response. Inoue chuckles. “What position do you usually play?”

“I wanna play power forward,” Taiga says. 

“Well, you’ll have to go through me,” he says, grinning. Taiga signs the forms. “Good luck. See you for practice after school.”

“Yes, thank you Inoue-senpai.”

“I love it when people call me senpai,” he says, satisfied. 

# ****

“You’re good, Taiga-kun, a little wobbly though,” Inoue says after practice.

Taiga was tired, but in the best possible way.

“I know. I injured my knee a few months ago. I think I’m still a little rusty.”

“That’s alright. You can build up your strength. I’ve still got another year, but captain’s already thinking about having you on the bench this year. By the time I’m gone,” he pokes Taiga in the chest, “You’ll be Kamizaki’s ace.

“Really?! Wait. First string?!” Inoue nods, a slight smile on his face. Taiga can’t believe what he’s hearing. He won’t be starting this year necessarily, they’ve got Inoue for that. Inoue who is very, very good. Fast. Probably the fastest basketball player he’s seen in Japan. Other than Daiki of course, but Inoue’s speed is a little bit different. He’s smoother, he doesn’t change up his pace like Daiki does. But he’s immensely talent. Taiga can already see why he’s Kamizaki’s ace. But if he had to take a break, Taiga could take his place. He’d actually be on the court playing in the first string in his first year! He can’t wait to tell Daiki, though he’s pretty sure that Daiki’s going to be playing too. He’s too good not to be. “T-thanks, Inoue-senpai.”

Inoue shrugs. “Hey, you’ve got talent Taiga-kun. Run with it.”

# ****

An hour later, Taiga is waiting at the bus stop for Daiki to show up, bouncing up and down impatiently. Finally, amidst the gaggle of passengers exiting the bus, Daiki’s navy blue head appears, setting a smile off across Taiga’s face.

“Hey, Daiki. How was school?”

“School’s whatever,” he says. “But the basketball team? Oh god Taiga, I wish you were there. I wish you could see it. Everyone practicing together and, it was just, Taiga it was awesome. There were so many awesome players! And they thought I was great!” he says, beaming. “I might even be starting this year!”

“Starting?” Taiga asks, shocked.

“Uh-huh. I’m that awesome! I-“ he cuts himself off when he sees Taiga’s face. “Oh, shit. Sorry, Taiga.”

Taiga shakes his head to clear it. “No, no, I’m happy for you, that’s awesome.”

“You’re…not playing?”

“Oh, no, I am.”

“…You ass! Why didn’t you say so? I though they shoved you into the second string or something.”

“No, I made first string.”

“Then why’re looking so sad?” he asks, putting his arm around him as they walk. Taiga realizes he has no idea where they’re going. He also just likes that Daiki’s arm is around him.

Taiga shrugs. “I’m not the starter. They’ve already got an ace. Inoue-senpai. He’s amazing!” Taiga gushes. “He’s super fast. Like as fast as you but smoother. He plays power forward, so I’m kinda his stand in sometimes I guess. I feel like I could learn so much from him, you know?”

Daiki frowns slightly. “Inoue, huh? He sounds…great.”

“Yeah! I can’t wait for you to play him.”

Daiki shakes his head. “I wanna play you,” he mutters.

Taiga smiles wide. “You will. Don’t worry. And we can play one-on-one whenever.”

“If you’re not too busy practicing with Inoue.”

Now it’s Taiga’s turn to frown. “Why’d you say that?”

Daiki shakes his head and moves his arm. Taiga misses it already. “No reason. Are you hungry?”

“Uh, duh.”

Daiki rolls his eyes. “Right.”

# ****

“Maji Burger,” Daiki says. “It’s better than that stupid American rip-off crap fest.”

“A burger is a burger,” Taiga replies.

“Oh, shut up!”

They order…many. Taiga loses count.

“Goddammit, Taiga!”

“Hmm? What?”

Daiki shakes his head but he’s smiling. “Nothing. I missed you.”

Taiga looks away. “You’ve said that.”

“Yeah, well, I’ll say it again if I feel like it, ‘kay?”

Taiga smiles. “Yeah, ok.”

Daiki kicks him under the table. Taiga kicks him back.

“Let’s play one-on-one when we’re done.”

“Ok.” 

# ****

Daiki seems to be laughing the entire game.

“What the hell is so funny, Daiki?”

“I’m sorry, it’s just, yeah there are some great guys on the team but I’m not supposed to play against them, you know? So it’s just…I never get tired of you, Taiga.”

“Oh.”

“Really. You’re kinda the reason I love basketball now.”

“Oh.” Taiga is blushing again. He needs to fucking stop.

Daiki rolls his eyes and dribbles the ball. “Even though we play for teams now, I’ll still look forward to this,” he says, gesturing to them. “This is…different.”

“It is.”

“Mm-hm.”

They take a break. They’re quiet for a while. The sun has set. Taiga knows his mom probably called to ask why he missed dinner. He doesn’t care.

They sit side by side, shoulder to shoulder and Taiga just enjoys the feeling of his closeness. He likes it. A lot.

“Oh, fuck. I’m a idiot!” Daiki jumps to his feet.

“Yes,” Taiga says.

“Shut the fuck up you ass,” he says, just on principle. “I just remembered, my mom’s here tonight.”

“Oh really?”

“Yeah, yeah! Wanna come meet her?”

Taiga nods. “Sure.” 

They walk to Daiki’s house, Daiki chattering about some of the other guys on his team. “There’s this big purple haired guy who eats all the time. I can’t believe he’s not fat by now!”

They climb up the steps to Daiki’s apartment. He unlocks the door and looks around. “Mom? You here?”

“Yes, Dai-chan,” she comes out of the kitchen holding a whisk and wearing an apron covered in cat drawings.

“Mom, I brought Taiga.”

Daiki’s mom’s eyes widen. “Oh! Yes, the fabled Taiga-kun!” She throws the whisk into the sink, free throw style. It goes in. She skips over to him and hugs him tight. She is very tall, taller than Taiga’s mom, thin and blue haired and blue eyed like Daiki, albeit lighter skinned. “So nice to finally put a face to the name. Or rather, the legend. Daiki talks about you all the time when I’m here. ‘And Taiga did this, and Taiga said that.’ The way he talks about you is so fanciful I began to wonder if you were real.”

“Mom,” Daiki grits through his teeth.

“But here you are!” she glances at her son before turning herself and Taiga around so she can whisper to him without Daiki hearing. “Between you and me, Taiga-kun, I’m pretty sure my son has a bit of a crush on you.”

Taiga’s world stops. That…can’t possibly be true.

“What are you two whispering about?!” Daiki demands.

His mom giggles. “Is that…true?” Taiga asks, hesitantly, as if he’ll break something if he speaks any louder or faster.

“Oh, yes. I don’t think he knows it yet, but- Oh, no! Did I just make it awkward?,” she asks as if the implications of the statement only hit her in hindsight. 

“No. I…I mean I…do to.” He hopes she’ll know what he means.

She does. “Oh, goodie,” she says. “I suppose that could’ve been weird. Boys are so strange with things like that these days. Why haven’t you two said anything?”

“I didn’t know, and…I’m still not…” he trails off. He’s pretty sure.

But Aomine-san nods. “Right, right. Of course. Well friendship is a beautiful thing, yes?”

“Mom. Seriously, what are you guys talking about?” Daiki pouts impatiently. Taiga thinks he understands why Daiki told him not the pout. It’s ridiculously cute.

“Oh, nothing, love. Are you hungry, Taiga-kun?”

“No! Don’t offer him food!”

Taiga sticks his tongue out at him. 

“It’s alright. I was baking a cake. We can have cake for dinner.”

“Cake for dinner?” Taiga’s never heard more beautiful words spoken. Even if he did just have around seventeen burgers not too long ago.

Daiki just shakes his head. “You’ve done it now. There won’t be any for the rest of us.”

Aomine-san finishes up her cake and brings it to the table. “Does it look alright?” she asks, sounding worried.

It’s covered in flowers and birds and intricate designs Taiga almost doesn’t feel comfortable eating, they’re so pretty. Almost.

“It’s beautiful. You’re an amazing artist,” Taiga tells her.

“Oh, thank you Taiga-kun! I think I’ll take a picture. He’s so sweet, Dai-chan.”

“Mom!”

Aomine-san takes a picture of the cake. “There we go. Ok, you can eat it now. I’ll print this out and add it to my scrapbook.”

“Scrapbook?” Taiga asks with his mouthful. The cake is spectacular. 

“Oh, yes! I love adding new pictures. I put a few of yours in there. The ones that didn’t fit on the poster. Did you like the poster, by the way? I love the pictures. You can really get to know a person through the pictures they take, and you take lovely pictures.”

Taiga squirms under the compliments. “Thank you. And I did. It was perfect.”

“Good, good! Well, I’ll be working on that. You two enjoy the cake! It was wonderful meeting you, Taiga-kun. Dai-chan, when I’m back in town, let Taiga-kun know, yes? I’d love for him to visit.”

“Mm-hm.”

Aomine-san gives Taiga one last hug before she skips, literally skips, away to work on her scrapbook.

“You’re mom’s cool,” Taiga says honestly.

“She’s weird,” Daiki replies, playing with his fork.

“Yeah, but not in a bad way.”

“I guess. What did she say to you?”

Taiga looks up. Should he tell him? “Uh, nothing.”

“Nothing my ass,” Daiki says calmly. “Just tell me.”

“I…are you sure?”

“Am I sure? Yeah, I guess,” Daiki shrugs. It’s forced. He’s trying to look calm, but he isn’t. He’s scared.

“She said,” Taiga takes a deep breath. This is it. Say it. “That…you have a crush on me?”

Daiki’s looking down at the table, but Taiga can see his eyes widen. Not as wide as someone who’s completely surprised though. He must’ve had an idea.

“She did?”

“Yeah.”

“And?”

Taiga’s confused. “And what?”

“Aren’t you gonna say something?”

“Is it true?” Taiga asks quietly. A denial now would hurt, but he’d survive. A confirmation…

“…I guess.”

Taiga nearly falls out of his chair. “You…what?”

“I guess, maybe I have a crush on you.” Daiki’s face twists up. “So, what? You gonna call me a fag?” he asks, wringing his hands. “You gonna never talk to me again? You gonna hate me?” his voice breaks at the end.

“Don’t cry,” Taiga says. He’ll cry if he does.

“I’m not crying, stupid!” Daiki lies. “Just tell me the truth: do you hate me now? Do you think I’m… gross?”

Taiga gets up. “No. I think you’re an idiot.”

Daiki gets up too. “How am I an idiot?”

“I…you…I thought…you’d hate _me_! Not the other way around! I thought you were…I just…ugh! Why didn’t you say something?” Taiga’s mad and happy and sad all at the same time. He wonders if your brain can explode from too many conflicting emotions at once. This can’t actually be happening. 

“Why didn’t I…What are you saying?” he narrows his eyes.

“I’m saying…I thought you knew I…liked you too.”

Daiki’s eyes widen again, bigger this time. Taiga gave him too much credit. He’s a fucking moron. “You do?”

Taiga wants to bang his head against something. “Yes! I thought…wow you’re dumb. I thought…”

“Well I thought you knew too!”

“I did! Well, didn’t really. Kinda did,” Taiga admits. There were clues everywhere. Daiki kissed him first, but he still couldn’t find a way to truly believe it. It was too confusing. Is this always supposed to be this confusing or is it just them overcomplicating it? Could this be simple? Has it been simple all along? Maybe Taiga is just a boy and Daiki is just a boy and they happen to love each other. Could it just be that? Could he cut out the extra?

_Kisses solve everything._

_This is the dumbest thing I’ve ever done._ His hearts racing so fast it might break away from him altogether. Now or never. 

Taiga kisses him. On the lips. His first kiss.

Daiki doesn’t move for a second, but then he’s wrapping his arms around him and there are tears on his face. He pulls his lips away after a few seconds but he doesn’t pull out of the embrace. He hugs him closer putting his head on Taiga’s shoulder even though he’s taller. “I don’t want this…it’s not fair! We play basketball. We…”

“It doesn’t matter,” Taiga says to him.

Daiki looks up. His eyes aren’t so wild right now. They’re frightened.

Taiga hadn’t realized it, but he’d learned a lot in the last three months. From Alex, and David, and Dr. Toby, and even his mother and father and Daiki’s mom. “It doesn’t matter,” he repeats. “I think…it’s ok,” he says. And, yeah, maybe it is.

Daiki shakes his head. “How is this ok!? This is…people are gonna make fun of us. People are gonna say things.”

“…I know.”

“But I…” he looks so scared. Scared of himself. 

Taiga’s pretty sure he loves him.

And for once Taiga feels like the stronger one. Like he’s holding Daiki up. Like he’s confident and certain and can make it all better. “I know.”

Taiga doesn’t know how long they stay like that, but eventually he untangles himself from Daiki’s long arms and says he has to go.

Daiki just nods mutely and walks him to the door. Taiga’s about to step out when Daiki says, “Wait.”

“Wha-“ Daiki cuts him off with a kiss.

When he pulls away he says, “I’ll see you tomorrow.”

Taiga’s insides feel like pudding, strange and heavy.“Yeah…bye Daiki.”

“Bye, Taiga.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So, some exciting news for y'all (maybe?) I can't seem to work on just one fic at once (go figure) so I started yet another AoKaga fic yesterday. Don't get too excited, it's probably gonna be way shorter. I'm thinking like a lengthy one-shot? Maybe? It might totally get away from me. Stories have a habit of doing that. But as soon as I'm done with that (hopefully within the next couple of days) I'll be posting it, so keep an eye out if you'd like! As always, thanks so much for reading! And remember, if you wanna kill me, comments are the easiest way to do it! Haha! See you on saturday!


	14. Baking

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So, I died. All the comments on this past chapter killed me. So, this is my ghost posting the next chapter for you. Seriously, THANK YOU GUYS SO, SO MUCH. Now, serious business. WARNING: this chapter does contain some sexual situations. Kinda. And yes, they're still thirteen. I have endeavored to keep this fic rated mature, but it's not just mature for the language. Obviously, it's not that explicit or in anyway graphic. I wrote what I was comfortable writing and what will probably (hopefully) be comfortable to read. So, fear not. If you really don't like the idea at all, I'd stop reading after around... "Hey! My TV, my rules!” because that's kinda where it starts, and just skip the rest. I won't be offended!

Taiga waits for Daiki outside like before, but he’s a little afraid Daiki won’t show. Maybe what happened yesterday ruined their relationship? But Daiki had kissed him _and_ said he’d see him tomorrow so…

“Taiga.”

He turns. Daiki’s walking up to him, a slight smile on his face.

“Hey.”

“Hi.”

“Daiki-“

“Before you say anything, lemme say something.”

“Ok.”

“No matter what, we’re always gonna be rivals,” he proclaims.

“Of course.” Taiga nods.

“Good. Don’t forget that.” And then he leans forward and kisses him, soft and slow, and Taiga’s pretty sure he’s going to be reduced to a puddle any second. Taiga didn’t know lips were so soft. And Daiki tastes vaguely of cookies, which doesn’t hurt. When Daiki pulls away he says, “I don’t want you to think that just because we’re…you know…that I’m ever gonna go easy on you.”

Taiga takes a second to get his brain working again. This kissing thing is great. He gets why people do it. Finally, he smirks. “I’d be pissed if you _did_ go easy on me.” Then he’s quiet for a beat. “Daiki…what are we?”

Daiki shrugs. “I don’t know. But…it’s ok? Right?”

Taiga nods vigorously. “Yeah. I mean, it’s ok with me if it’s ok with you.”

“It’s ok with me…”

“Are you sure?”

Daiki shakes his head to clear it. “But…can we keep it a secret? I just don’t want…”

“Yeah. We don’t have to tell anyone. Besides, it’s nobody’s business.”

Daiki nods, exhaling a sigh of slight relief. “Right.”

“Why do you taste like cookies?” Taiga has to ask.

“My mom made cookies for breakfast before she left. My dad had a fit.”

Taiga snorts. “Wow, cookies for breakfast.”

“…I saved some for you.”

Taiga glances at him out of the corner of his eye and feels a weird floaty sensation in his chest. He wonders if that’s what love feels like. Like floating? “Thanks.” 

“So you can come over later and have some…if you want.”

“Like I’d say no to cookies. Idiot.”

Daiki punches him. “Don’t call me an idiot, moron.”

And nothing’s really changed and Taiga likes that.

# ****

This time Daiki’s waiting for Taiga. His bus must have come earlier.

“Hey, dumbass,” he says.

“Shut up, you shit.”

“Hey! Be nice, I’m giving you cookies.”

Taiga rolls his eyes.

“How was practice with _Inoue_?” Daiki says ‘Inoue’ like it’s a bad word.

“…Fine? Why?”

“Oh, no reason.”

Taiga finally gets it, albeit a bit late. “Seriously?”

“What?”

“You’re jealous of Inoue?”

“Fuck no!”

But Taiga laughs. “Oh god, really? No. Daiki just don’t even.”

Daiki pouts. He _has_ to stop pouting. It’s imperative. “I’m not…”

Taiga peaks around to see if there’s anyone around. There isn’t. He kisses Daiki on the cheek. “Don’t be dumb,” he says reassuringly. Inoue’s like a big brother. Daiki’s…different.

He’s blushing. “I’m…yeah, ok.”

“Good.”

When they get to his house, Taiga can smell the cookies in the air. “Smells so good!” he starts drooling a little.

“Oh, relax,” Daiki says, pulling a covered pan out of the oven. “She made them this morning, but they should still be good. They’ve been sitting in the oven all day, so they might even be warm.”

Taiga isn’t listening. He’s too busy pouncing on the cookies. “Mmm. You’re mom’s a good cook. Really good.”

“Yeah…”

“What?” Taiga notices Daiki looking at him funny. 

“Nothing.”

Taiga decides not to worry about it. He’s too busy enjoying the perfectly baked cookies. He has an odd thought as he stuffs another into his mouth: they don’t taste quite as good when they’re not on Daiki’s lips.

# ****

Taiga’s phone is ringing. “Hello?” he answers.

“Hey, honey. Where are you?” his mom asks.

“Oh, I’m at Daiki’s place. Having some cookies,” he says as he nibbles another.

“You’re getting crumbs on the bed,” Daiki whispers loudly.

Taiga kicks him. “I’ll be home before dinner,” he tells her.

“…Oh. Ok, then…”

Taiga leans back into Daiki’s pillows a little, swallowing some more of the cookie. He wishes he had some milk, but Daiki doesn’t want him spilling it on his bed. “Everything ok?”

“Um…yes. Fine.”

“Ok, see you later.” He hangs up.

“Everything cool?” Daiki asks. He’s stolen one of Taiga’s cookies, which pissed him off briefly, but then Daiki kissed him as payment so he couldn’t really complain.

“Yeah, I think.”

“Hmm.” Daiki flops over on the bed. “Do you wanna watch something?” he asks.

Daiki has a TV in his room. It’s an old square one he literally found in the street and picked up and made his own. He calls it “Boxy.” It takes up a ton of space because Daiki’s room isn’t very big. It’s cozy though. Filled with lots of blues and greens. It smells like him too. His bed’s got about a dozen pillows on it for no particular reason; Daiki just likes pillows, and Taiga is currently sinking into their embrace. Daiki’s been either sitting on top of him, laying on top of him, or laying on pillows on top of him the whole time, occasionally bitching about the crumbs even as he himself ate one of Taiga’s cookies. 

“Sure,” Taiga replies. There is a single cookie left. He sighs. He wants to mourn the completion of the cookies. “How does your mom make these? They’re amazing!”

Daiki crawls over him for the remote. “No clue. I can’t cook for shit.”

“I kinda wish I could cook,” Taiga muses. He likes food so much, maybe it’s time he figured out how to make it.

“You should learn.”

“Why? So I can cook for your lazy ass?”

“Yes,” Daiki replies unabashedly. He flips on the TV and changes the channel to one of those networks that show the pop idol shows. Daiki grins and puts the remote down.

“Daiki. No.”

“Hey! My TV, my rules!” he says, leaning back so he’s half on top of Taiga again. He puts one arm around Taiga’s shoulders so Taiga is laying on it. It’ll probably fall asleep soon, so he’ll move it, but it’ll find it’s way back somehow. He’s done it repeatedly.

Taiga rolls his eyes, unable to believe the idiot actually enjoys this garbage, but then he gets progressively more distracted. 

Daiki watches the show at rapt attention, gasping at all the “dramatic” parts. He’s not paying any attention to his hand - the one that’s not currently pinned under Taiga’s back - which is on Taiga’s waist, under his shirt. 

“She was a bitch anyway,” he says when one girl yells at another, sending her crying and flailing dramatically out of the room. His thumb rubs circles into Taiga’s hip bone and Taiga shivers. Daiki’s completely oblivious.

Taiga knows he’s touchy. It’s probably not even just with him. Daiki doesn’t seem to have a problem putting his arm around people or poking them or hitting them. Taiga knows that, so why can’t he take his mind off the thumb on his hip bone?

Daiki makes some other rude remark about someone on the show that Taiga doesn’t catch. He’s too busy thinking about the fact that he can feel Daiki breathing on his neck.

Daiki moves his hand further up Taiga’s shirt, not taking his eyes off of the screen. His finger tips press into his skin. Taiga holds his breath. Or his breath holds itself. He doesn’t remember how to breath, actually.

He moves the hand back down again, lightly, fingers barely touching him as his hand comes to rest on his hip again.

Aside from breathing, Taiga also forgets how to think.

“Tch. Good riddance,” Daiki says as the crying girl quits, running out. It’s probably staged.

Daiki’s hand moves to the side towards his belly button his fingers lightly brushing the barely-there hair that’s started to grow around his navel. His palm is almost flush with his lower abdomen, the bottom of his hand rest just on the waistband of his pants. _What if he moved his hand down a little lower?_

_Breathe,_ he thinks _breathe._ But he can’t. Is completely unable. _What if I die from oxygen deprivation?! Can that happen?_ he thinks vaguely. He takes a shallow breath, like a pant. _Better. But…_

He’s never felt like this before. About anyone.

He bites his lip, trying to focus on something, _anything_ else, but it’s not working right. His brain gets progressively more fried, and his body…

He takes in another shallow gasp. _Oh, shit…_

He has the sudden urge to cross his legs against the sensation. Will it away. He knows it’s there, hot and tight, his groin feels like it’s coiling in on itself. _Oh, shit, oh, shit…can’t breath…can’t be happening…_ He thanks every deity he can think of that his school pants are so thick.

He needs to move. Daiki’s too close, too warm, too touchy, and he smells too damn good.

He turns around quickly and stands up, back to Daiki.

“Where you going?” Daiki asked. “Mimi-chan’s about to get her ass handed to her! You wanna miss it?”

“I have to go to the bathroom,” he says.

Daiki sighs. “Hurry up,” and then turns the volume up a couple notches on the TV, as if it wasn’t loud enough already. 

Taiga does in fact go into the bathroom, but not to use it.

His face is probably redder than his hair right now, and he’s glad it’s getting dark and Daiki doesn’t like the light on when he watches TV. He’d told him that.

“Oh god,” he whispers.

He definitely has a boner. His pants feel way too tight and he kinda wants to take them off, but he also really doesn’t want to.

It’s not like he’s never had a boner. He has, but it was almost always either totally random or the product of a dream he was having. And he could never remember the dream once he woke up, sometimes sticky, sometimes not.

He’d done the whole sex ed thing, he knows, but this is totally different. He ended up with a hard-on specifically because he was thinking about Daiki putting his hand…somewhere he shouldn’t. 

Taiga’s insides spasm a little. “Fuck,” he grits through his teeth. His pants are _way_ too tight right now. He needs to stop thinking about it. Or…think about it later. _Not now,_ he tells himself, hoping his body with listen. It does a bit. Maybe it’s mind over matter. The promise that he’ll think about it later ultimately convincing his dick to calm down. “Better,” he whispers.

He looks in the mirror. His face isn’t quite as red anymore. 

He flushes the toilet so Daiki’s not suspicious, takes a breath, and hopes he can keep it together a little while longer.

When he goes back to Daiki’s room, Daiki’s moved. He’s laying on his stomach, face toward the television. Probably to see better. His TV is kind of shitty.

“You missed the best part,” Daiki says. It sounds kind of forced for some reason.

“There is no best part,” Taiga retorts. “It’s all equally shit-tastic.”

Daiki rolls his eyes. “Whatever…Hey, what time is it?”

“Six. I should be getting home,” Taiga realizes.

“‘Kay.”

“You’re not gonna walk me out?”

“…I don’t wanna miss this…”

“Fine. See you tomorrow.”

“Mm-hm. See ya.”

Taiga sighs. He’s a jerk still. They may be…together…but that doesn’t stop Daiki from treating him like crap. It’s probably for the best though, if Daiki was nice all the time it’d be weird. Or, weirder than it already is.

Taiga walks home, letting the cool air calm his nerves further. He’d felt like he was overheating. He needs to figure out how to deal with it. Deal with Daiki being so close to him, because he likes it, he didn’t want to have to stop. He just can’t afford to let his mind wander anywhere.

When he gets home his mom is waiting for him with dinner on the table.

“Hey, Taiga.”

“Hi, mom.”

“Did you have a good time at Daiki’s?” she asks.

“Yeah, I guess. The cookies were good. The TV? Not so much.”

“He likes those pop idol shows right?”

Taiga nods, sitting down and digging into his meal.

His mom clears her throat. “Taiga?”

Taiga nearly chokes. _Oh, god, here it comes._ “Yes?

She stares at him for a long time and finally gets up with a sigh. “Nothing.”

_Wow, that is annoying._ But he doesn’t press. Mostly because he doesn’t want to know what she was going to say. 

He gets up when he’s finished and goes to his room to get his pajamas to bring to the bathroom. He’s got homework to do, but he wants to shower first.

Once in the bathroom he remembers that last time he was in a bathroom, promising himself he’d think about it later. _Now could be later._

He turns on the shower and takes off his clothes, waiting for it to get hot before he gets in. 

If he inhales deep enough that he can smell Daiki on his skin. If he closes his eyes he can feel his fingers under his shirt. 

He hums in his throat and looks down. The infamous boner is back full force, but this time he’s not panicking. He’s calm. 

He steps into the shower, letting the hot water wash over him. He runs his hands through his hair to wet it and then lets his hands drift downward. 

He bites his lip. He knows people do this. Knows it feels good, but he feels dirty anyhow, especially since he’s thinking about Daiki.

His right hand drifts lower.

A little moan is torn from his throat and he tries to smother it, worrying his mom is in her room, adjacent to the bathroom. 

He clamps his free hand over his mouth in case any other unwelcome sounds try to escape it. He closes his eyes and imagines his right hand is Daiki’s instead.

His mind tosses out all sorts of profanity as he tries not to make a sound. He bites down on one of the fingers covering his mouth.

_You shouldn’t be doing this, you shouldn’t be doing this, it’s so wrong!_ His mind says, but his body has a completely different agenda. 

He bites harder as his lower stomach starts to feel tighter, and tighter, and- 

“Daiki!” He just barely manages to smother it with his hand. He pulls the hand he’d been biting away from his mouth. There’s an angry red ring, like a perforated line curving across his middle finger. It hurts. 

He pulls his other hand away. It’s white and sticky. “Fuck.” He can’t believe he just did that, but he feels…better now.

He washes both his hands and does the business of actually washing his body like you’re supposed to do in a shower.

He turns off the water, gets dressed, and does his homework. He finds that he can actually concentrate a lot better than he has in a while. He might have to start a new nightly routine…

He climbs into bed when he’s done, turning off the light just as his phone vibrates.

It’s Daiki. He blushes, thinking about what happened in the shower. The way he’d said his name. Is he going to be able to look at him at all without blushing?

Daiki: **goodnight, asshole. sweet dreams.**

Taiga smiles in spite of himself. 

Taiga: **you’re a jackass. goodnight.**

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sooooo...I could really use your thoughts (as always), was that alright? I thought it seemed realistic enough and not too weird but IDK! I was really hesitant about posting this chapter because, while I like it, I just didn't know if it was...ok? Oh, and I realize I didn't put an underage warning on this. I did this for two reasons. Firstly, I didn't know if there would be smut or not when I started. Secondly, when I realized there was (kinda), I didn't really wanna spoil it/ward people off from the fic, because I swear it's not, like, thirteen year olds having graphic sex or anything! So...ah! I don't even know...
> 
> In other news, the next three chapters make up another trilogy so I will be posting them back to back to back once again (Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday). I hope this pleases you! See you then.
> 
> P.S. Raise your hand if you can tell me why Daiki had switched to laying on his stomach and refused to get up and walk Taiga out...*looks around innocently* Did anyone else notice that? *walks casually out of room like I totally didn't do anything wrong*


	15. Paper Dolls, Part 1

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> As always, the comments just keep flowing and making me happy! Keep making mama happy! And now, uh *twiddles thumbs guiltily* Angst? I'm sorry! Here's the thing I wanna say first: this is not random. I did not just say "oh, I'll just throw this in now." I've literally been planning to do this since the beginning, I was just waiting for the opportune moment. And now I think is the time. So this arc has been a long time in the making. I'm so afraid of you guys hating me but I'm sticking to my story line! *terrified* Enjoy?

The next week is a busy one. Taiga’s work load increases, as does his time in practice as they prepare for the tournament. He still sees Daiki everyday, of course. They walk to and from school together, but lately they’ve been too tired to actually play one-on-one, so they’d typically part ways, and if no one was around, kiss a little before they did. It was becoming a regular thing.

Taiga’s little “shower incident” wasn’t a one off thing, either. He had a hard time _not_ thinking about Daiki when he was at school. He was careful to not let his mind wander during school or practice, but when he got home and his mom was mercifully still at work, he could let his mind (and his hands) wander all he liked. Of course, he could never tell Daiki this.

# ****

“Taiga! Get your head out of your ass!” Inoue shouts as Taiga misses a pass.

“Sorry, sorry,” he says. He needs to focus. _Why’s it so hard to focus?_

Inoue shakes his head. “We have a practice game against Teiko in three days, we’ve got to be on top of things.” Oh, maybe that’s why he can’t focus. He’ll be playing against Daiki in a practice game at the end of the week and Taiga’s never been this nervous in all his life.

What if people notice that they’re…you know? What if he can’t play his hardest? What if he gets distracted during the game? What if-

“Ok, Taiga, what’s your deal?” Inoue asks as everyone takes a break.

“What? Oh…nothing.”

Inoue shakes his head. “Nope, don’t give me that. Seriously, what? Tell your senpai what’s wrong.” He sits down on the bench with him, waiting. “You nervous about the Teiko game?” he asks when Taiga doesn’t answer.

“I guess,” he says.

“How come? I mean, they’re a fierce opponent, but this isn’t about winning or losing. We’ve just gotta make sure we learn everything we can from them so when we face them in the finals we know what we’re up against.”

“I know what we’re up against,” Taiga mumbles.

“Hmm? What do you mean?”

“I…know one of the new players really well,” he replies, trying to keep his face and voice as neutral as possible. “He’s really good.”

“Oh yeah? Which one? I heard all the newbies are crazy strong.”

“Aomine. Daiki.”

“Oh, I heard about him. You two friends or something?” Inoue raises an eyebrow.

“…yeah.”

Inoue cocks his head to the side. “Is that why you’re so nervous?”

“That’s part of it,” Taiga says slowly.

Inoue leans back. “Don’t let the captain know you’re friends with a member of a rival team.”

“Huh?”

Inoue is shaking his head. “Yeah, this guy got kicked off last season because he was hanging out with a rival player. They’re really paranoid around here that we’ll leak information or something. It’s kinda stupid, I mean, this isn’t the Yakuza or some shit. Just…be careful,” Inoue gives him a pointed look. 

“I…ok.”

Taiga spends the rest of practice in a perpetual state of fear.

# ****

“You’re avoiding me,” Daiki says the split second after Taiga picks up the phone.

“I’m…no, I’m not,” he lies.

“Why? You mad or something?” 

“No, it’s not that. It’s just…well the practice game’s tomorrow and…”

Daiki’s quiet. “Yeah. You nervous about that?”

“I guess.”

“Just pretend like we don’t know each other.”

Taiga actually laughs out loud at that. “As if.”

Taiga can practically hear Daiki rolling his eyes on the other side of the phone. “It’ll be fine, Taiga. And we can hang out after the game. ‘Kay?”

“Okay.”

But Taiga’s not so sure if it’s ok. Something feels wrong and he doesn’t know how to fix it.

# ****

It’s game day and Taiga is practically shaking in his shoes. Daiki’s over on the other side of the court sneaking glances at Taiga every couple of seconds and Taiga stands there on his side of the court pretending like he isn’t doing the exact same thing. 

“Hey. Taiga!” Inoue elbows him in the ribs. “What the hell are you thinking about?”

_The curve of Daiki’s neck,_ he thinks to himself. “Uh, just the game,” he looks away as quickly as his eyes will allow, but somehow Inoue still catches him.

“You were staring at Aomine,” he says, sounding slightly puzzled.

“I wasn’t…” he whispers.

“And he keeps looking at you,” Inoue comments.

“Oh.”

He looks back and forth between them, putting two and two together. “Well, now it makes sense,” Inoue says. Taiga’s heart slides down to somewhere around his knees.. “I won’t tell anyone,” Inoue says. “But I wouldn’t if I were you.”

Taiga looks at him. “Wouldn’t…?

“Get involved now. Like I told you, the coach and captain are super paranoid.”

“You don’t…I mean…you don’t seem…” Taiga doesn’t know how to say it.

“What? Care that you like boys or whatever? I don’t care what people like, that’s your business, what I’m worried about is how good you’ll be able to keep it together against him,” he says, giving him a look, “You’re what, thirteen? Playing first string? Probably not the best time to be worrying about a boyfriend.”

_Boyfriend._

Taiga’s never actually referred to them as such. Are they boyfriends?

“I…yeah. I know."

“Just keep it together and we’ll be fine,” Inoue says, patting him on the head. Taiga smiles at him. This was definitely one of those “better than you expect” situations. Inoue-senpai didn’t care that he was gay at all. That was probably the best reaction he could hope for. 

When Taiga looks over at Daiki again, he glaring at Inoue. His jealousy radiating off of him in pissed off waves. Taiga just smiles at him. His jealousy only serves to inflate Taiga’s ego. 

Sometimes he’s not sure if Daiki actually likes him as much as he likes Daiki, but when he gets all jealous like this it’s reassuring. 

He wants to go over to him and give him a hug, but he can’t. _This is hard,_ he thinks to himself. He doesn’t know how to deal with this.

“The game’s starting, let’s line up,” Inoue says for Hinakata.

Taiga takes a breath. _I can do this._

# ****

In the end Taiga only ends up playing for the last half of the third quarter. The coach wanted Inoue-senpai to have a break before closing out the game so he put Taiga in on good faith. 

Unfortunately, Daiki was playing at the same time of course, and Taiga’s brain switched right into one-on-one mode, which should’ve been good, but there is the whole fact of they’re playing on teams now. They’re not the only ones on the court, but it’s almost impossible for Taiga to focus on anything other than Daiki when he’s on the court.

Taiga does score quite a few times, and Daiki a few times more, but it left him feeling rather smug because he’d scored almost as many points as Inoue in just that half of a quarter as Inoue did in the whole game. 

When he’d gone back to the bench everyone stared, jaws to the floor at him. 

“He’s a monster,” one of the second-years whispered. 

Taiga had grinned. He didn’t notice Inoue-senpai and captain Hinakata glaring at him.

“Taiga,” Inoue says as he catches up to him after the game. Taiga was making a beeline for the entrance, trying to catch up with Daiki before he left. “Hinakata wanted me to talk to you.”

“About what?” Taiga says impatiently, if he hurries, Daiki might still be around.

“You can’t play like that, Taiga.”

“What? I scored so many points!”

“Today, yeah, because Teiko was trying out their monster first years. They’re not totally a team just yet, so it worked out, but once they get they’re shit together Taiga, you can’t play like you’re the only one on the court.”

“I…sorry?” Taiga says, but he doesn’t get it. The game was close, 79-82, their loss, but still close. Why did he have to worry about that now?

Inoue takes a breath. “Hinakata doesn’t want you playing against Teiko. At all.”

“What?!”

“And I agree. You can’t get your head right, you can’t play them. You can’t play against _him_.”

“But, Inoue-senpai-“

“No. Beating Teiko is too important, we can’t be worrying about you.”

Taiga starts breathing hard. Can’t play against him? Can’t get his head in the game? Is his…feelings for Daiki actually getting in the way of basketball? Everything was fine when they were just friends wasn’t it? But now he’s all messed up. He’s been feeling it for days now, distracted and not totally on top of his game as his mind always seems to be on Daiki. What would they do, when would they see each other, how would Daiki look? It’s becoming too much for him to handle always thinking about him, always wondering. 

_What if this is a mistake?_

“I…understand,” Taiga says in a daze.

“Good. I’m sorry, Taiga, I know it’s hard, but I think it’s best. And that doesn’t mean you won’t get to play. You at least proved to everyone that you’ve got serious skills.”

Taiga just nods haplessly. “I’ve got to go,” he mumbles.

# ****

Daiki: **can we talk?**

Taiga: **yeah, I wanted to talk too.**

Taiga meets Daiki at the courts after dinner. Daiki’s dribbling a ball idly. 

“Hey,” he says.

“Hi.” Taiga really wants to kiss him but restrains himself. That would kinda defeat the purpose of this conversation. “So, what did you want to talk about?” Taiga asks, not ready to say what he needs to say.

“I’m breaking up with you,” he says so fast it comes out as one word.

Taiga is stunned. 

He’d come knowing full well that he himself was considering the same thing, but hearing it was…something else entirely.

He’d thought about it for many hours after the game. Thought about how he’d been feeling after he and Daiki admitted their feelings, and the truth was, while he was happy, he was also constantly stressed, constantly terrified, completely overwhelmed. He just didn’t think he could handle a _relationship_. He didn’t really know what those entailed really and it was distracting him from basketball and school and everything else really. Maybe…this is too much, too young. He needed to pull back, take a break.

But hearing Daiki say it was like getting punched. It was fast and painful and totally unexpected even though he’d thought he’d braced himself for it.

“Oh.”

“I…Taiga…listen. You know I…you know how I feel, but-“

“No, I know, I was actually gonna say the same thing.”

“Oh,” he says. He looks down, away, anywhere but Taiga’s face. “Ok,” he says finally. “It’s better right? If we’re just friends? For now.”

“Yeah. Right, exactly,” Taiga nods hastily, feeling his heart crack open and spill everywhere.

Daiki nods. “Ok,” he says. “Then…I’ll talk to you later, I guess.”

“Yeah.”

“…Bye, Taiga.” He looks like he wants to reach out and touch him, but in the end, doesn’t.

“Bye, Daiki.”

Taiga watches him go. Watches the way he walks, the way he dribbles the ball once before holding it still under his arms, the hunch in his back he adopts, no doubt to shield himself from the pain. 

They just…broke up.

He’s there and then he’s gone. He’s always disappearing.

# ****

He feels like shit ignoring Daiki’s calls and texts yet again. He considered so many times answering and pretending like nothing was wrong, but he refrained. 

They’d said they’d go back to being friends, but they began to talk to each other less and less, and admittedly, it was mostly Taiga’s fault. He’d started blowing him off. His answers coming clipped, making excuses for why they couldn’t see each other. 

If his mom noticed the change, she didn’t comment. They never did, in fact, talk about it. Maybe she thought if she didn’t mention it, it’d go away. Or maybe it was Taiga who thought that. He’s not sure. 

Maybe she thought he was too young anyway; she was glad he “broke it off.” Maybe…she didn’t think it was real in the first place.

The truth is, Taiga didn’t think they could be friends again. He liked it when they were rivals, when they argued, and bickered and played basketball together, but every time he thought about him he’d think about other things too. Things he shouldn’t and didn’t want to think about. It was too difficult, so he gave up. Like a coward, he gave up.

_It’s better this way,_ he told himself. _Eventually, Daiki will forget me. We didn’t know each other long. I’ll just fade away. Forever. That’s what happens to first loves anyway._

But Taiga knew he couldn’t forget Daiki. Not the way he moved or the way he felt or the way he smelled. Or…at least he’d thought that he couldn’t. 

**_All those moments…_ **

Time is cruel and completely unforgiving. It takes things from you without asking. It takes the sensation of Daiki’s fingertips away. It takes the smell of his hair mixed with the laundry detergent on his pillow away. It takes the feeling of flying every time they played, every time he looked at him, away.

Daiki soon became a relic of his childhood, a past life, something you mention in passing.

It hurt less. Mostly.

Taiga throws himself into basketball. He gets better. And better. And _better_. Everyone calls him a monster. It feels good as hell. People compare him to the Generation of Miracles, as they’ve come to be called. It’s a shame, they’d say, he didn’t go to Teiko. An uncrowned king.

An even bigger shame he never faced them again.

He’d skipped the semifinals between Teiko and Kamizaki. They lost. Obviously. Taiga tries to be really upset about it, but he can’t.

The weeks bled into months and the months into years. Funny, Taiga had only known Daiki five months and he was away three of them. That time passed by and doubled in a blur. Those five months still feel like a lifetime.

**_…will be lost…_ **

The next year they meet in the quarterfinals. Taiga doesn’t go yet again. The score was 169-81. Teiko completely shut them down. Daiki decimated Inoue. Inoue never looked the same after that. None of his team members did. They reminded him of paper dolls, all flat, and blank and the same. Apparently, when the lead got too big, they completely lost the will the play. Daiki destroyed them, cut them up into little tiny pieces. He knows how they feel.

**_…in time…_ **

A week after that game, Inoue’s last before graduation, (Taiga had heard he was quitting basketball) he comes home from school, feeling down already, gets on his computer, and spies a picture of Kobe Bryant on the Yahoo homepage. He’s got his thumb hooked in his jersey, smiling wide and sticking his tongue out.

Taiga doubles over in pain so sudden he barely has time to process it. He puts his head between his knees and cries, and he hasn’t cried in over a year, and he doesn’t think he’s ever cried like this. Silent sobs. It’s so painful he can’t even make a sound. 

It’s like Daiki’s dead. It’s like time killed him. Was he that afraid of being hurt? Did he make the right choice? Distancing himself like that all this time? He…misses him.

**_…like tears…_ **

It’s not until the summer before high school that they see each other again. The last day of school actually, and he only sees the back of his head.

He feels his breath catch in his throat. Daiki’s talking to someone else. And then he walks away.

It isn’t Daiki, but the someone else who comes to talk to him.

A short, blue haired boy Taiga feels like he’s seen before walks up to him.

“You’re Kagami-kun, right?”

“Uh, yeah?” Taiga really feels like he’s seen him before but he can’t place him.

“My name’s Kuroko Tetsuya. I used to play for Teiko,” he says.

_That must be it!_ How come he never really noticed him?

“I came to talk to you on behalf of Aomine-kun,” he says.

“What? Why?” Taiga’s heart races like it hasn’t in years.

“He’s…different. He’s lost his love of basketball…And I think you can fix him.” 

**_…in rain._ **

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> *cowers in anticipation of physical violence* I apologize. I needed them older. Here's the thing: this is based on my life mixed with my best friend's life, so it's coming from a real place. I wrote a short story for a contest a year ago about my first love and how he moved away and we promised to keep in touch, but in the end, we just drifted apart because that was easiest. We ended up reconnecting once a long time ago, and then again recently. And as for my best friend, when she came to terms with her bisexuality a few years ago and asked out her long-time crush, she ended up realizing it was too overwhelming for her at the time and she just wasn't ready for the relationship yet, so they decided to break up. I kinda mixed the two together. It's something that unfortunately happens, even if you love someone. So...yeah. That's my justification for this pain. 
> 
> On a completely unrelated note, there is in fact a quote buried in the last part: "All those… moments… will be lost in time, like... tears… in… rain." - Rutger Hauer, _Tears in Rain Monologue, Blade Runner._ _Blade Runner_ is one of my all time favorite movies and that monologue is my favorite monologue in movies, period. So I stuck it in there to be artsy cause it fit. Yeah. See y'all tomorrow?


	16. Paper Dolls, Part 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And here it is! The feels...they're gonna keep happening. I'm sorry I'm an evil person! Truly, sorry. But alas...  
> THANKS for all the comments guys. You da you da best! *hugs everyone*   
> Now, I won't stall any longer. Here y'all go.

Taiga stares at the little blue headed person before him. His eyes are wide and innocent looking, but at the same time sharp and almost demanding.

_And I think you can fix him._

“What are you talking about?” 

Kuroko looks aways briefly and then back at Taiga, pinning him with his eyes. “Aomine-kun believes that the only one who can beat him in basketball, is him.”

Taiga snorts despite himself. “Yeah, that sounds like something he’d say.”

Kuroko shakes his head. “He believes it, Kagami-kun. He used to love basketball. He used to play with all his heart, but now he doesn’t enjoy it any longer.”

_That_ doesn’t sound like Daiki at all. “Why are you telling _me_ this?” he asks. “How do you even know about me?”

“Aomine-kun used to talk about you. Years ago. But he started acting differently during the tournament in our first year. He mentioned you.”

“What did he say?”

“I don’t recall, exactly. But he was upset.”

Taiga looks away. He knew what he did must have hurt at first, but surely he’s over it by now. Sometimes Taiga’s pretty sure he’s over it himself. Sometimes. Other times, he’s buried in it.

“We were friends back then,” Taiga says carefully, “But the whole playing on opposite teams thing was kinda hard so we grew apart.”

Kuroko looks at him strangely. “Is that really what happened, Kagami-kun?”

Taiga freezes. How much does this guy know? “More or less,” he says. It’s pretty much true. Right?

“I believe you meant a lot to him, Kagami-kun,” Kuroko tells him. “Aomine-kun is very bad about expressing his feelings. He couldn’t hide that from me, but he wouldn’t admit to it either.”

“I guess you two were friends?” Taiga says, trying and failing to keep all the jealousy from his voice. He probably manages to stave off the brunt of it at least. Why the hell’s he jealous anyway? It’s been two and a half years now.

“We were friends, but…after he changed, he drifted away,” Kuroko says sadly. Taiga feels instantly bad. It’s his fault isn’t it? Did he ruin a friendship he wasn’t even a part of? 

“If you were friends why are you asking me to fix him? Why can’t you do it?” Taiga asks, not looking at him. This guy, Kuroko, seems like a pretty straightforward kind of person, so when he says “friend” he doesn’t actually think there’s a hidden meaning there like he briefly feared. It seems like Daiki and Kuroko really were just good friends, and now Kuroko’s asking Taiga, who hasn’t seen Daiki in years to fix something he had no idea he caused? 

“I can’t play basketball the way you and he can. I’ve seen you play, Kagami-kun. You two are very similar.”

Taiga feels a flush of pride at that, even though he hates admitting Daiki is better than him, it still feels good, to this day, when they are compared. It wouldn’t be the first time either. Plenty of players and coaches have pointed out that Daiki and Taiga are both forces to be reckoned with. People say they’re cut from the same cloth. Taiga always imagined someone cutting them out of a piece of fabric together, hands still locked, fused together until a big pair of scissors came to cut them apart. Problem is, Taiga often imagines himself holding the scissors.

“You played for Teiko, you’ve gotta be awesome,” Taiga says, but even as he says it, he can’t recall a single thing about the little blue haired boy’s playing. He knows about the others: the tall purple haired guy with the sweet tooth who can block anything, the green haired nerdy guy with the incredible three pointers and some weird superstition fetish, the hot (not that Taiga thinks he’s hot or anything) blond guy who jacks other players’ moves, Daiki, and a little psychotic redhead who everyone swears can see the future. But when Taiga tries to recall facts about Kuroko, he comes up short.

“I don’t play the same way as everyone else,” Kuroko tells him. “I can’t stand up to Aomine-kun. No one can. Except you. You could remind him that he’s not alone. I think you may be the only one who can.” Taiga wonders if they’re still just talking about basketball.

“I…we haven’t seen each other in years,” Taiga says. 

Kuroko nods. “I know.”

“I don’t know…”

“Consider it, Kagami-kun. Consider he needs you.”

“I…I’ll think about it. I will,” Taiga assures him.

Kuroko nods once more. “Thank you, Kagami-kun,” and then Taiga blinks and he’s gone.

“The fuck?” he mumbles. _How’d he disappear so fast?_

Taiga sighs. He wonders if Kuroko tried to convince Daiki himself to come over. That must’ve been what they were talking about. 

Taiga looks up and realizes with a sharp pain in his chest, that this is where he and Daiki used to part ways for home. He feels the sudden urge to lay down and never get up again.

He’d gotten so adept at avoiding Daiki these past two years that it’d become second nature.

He knew when to leave the house, where to walk, when to go by the bus stop, in order to not see him. And Daiki must’ve gotten the hint early on because he never went out of his way to see Taiga either, he stuck to his own paths, own times, and they never ran into each other.

People say that it’s a small world, but conversely, it’s a huge one too. The space between two points can be measured in units or infinities. The space between two people isn’t any different. And the space has grown into an incredible chasm Taiga’s just been asked to bridge. 

# ****

Taiga takes after Dr. Toby in that, he figured out his sexuality at a pretty young age, but hasn’t really “come out” yet. Basically, he’s aware that he’s gay, but so deep in denial sometimes it’s like he isn’t. It’s that constant, “maybe if I don’t look at it, it’ll just go away,” thing. Such a silly, childish concept, but Taiga, at fifteen, is still using it to this day. 

He’s never had a girlfriend, but he’s never had a boyfriend either. He’s been careful not to show any interest in anyone, partially because he hasn’t been interested in anyone, and partially because he hasn’t had time to try to be interested in anyone.

Practice mixed with school, equalled no free time at all, and Taiga was just fine with that. He could almost go days without remembering his sexuality. Almost. There’s always some small, tiny, little unimportant thing to poke him where it hurts, but for the most part, he’s been content with just being a rather non-sexual person. 

All of that gets shoved straight down the shitter the instant he sees Daiki. 

He’s not sure what possessed him to visit the back court when he does, maybe it was Kuroko’s earnestness, maybe it was the finality of his last day of middle school, either way, it’s five o’clock, right before dinner, a time Taiga knows Daiki’s usually there. He knows because he made it his business to never be there at the same time. He always waits until after dinner before he shows up, and by then Daiki’s always gone.

But there he is, idly dribbling a ball, just like the day they last spoke. He’d barely been able to remember the last time they saw each other, but he clung to the memory with white knuckles, trying to preserve it in his mind as best he can. He’d thought if he could hang onto it, maybe it would hurt less. But it’d started to fade with time. 

Now it’s in bright neons, stinging his eyes and making it difficult to breath.

_Daiki._

He’s changed and not changed at the same time. He’s much taller. Still, it looked like, slightly taller than Taiga, who’d grown a lot too.

His hair is still short, still blue. His skin still dark and perfect. His eyes have changed. They’re narrowed in a completely disconnected, uncaring way Taiga has never seen before. No matter what, Daiki had had a light behind his eyes. A drive. Something wild that would never been tamed, and yet the fire has died down to an ember. It’s still there, but it isn’t the same at all. It makes Taiga sad to know he did that. More than anything, he regrets killing those wild eyes. 

And now he knows he’d do absolutely anything to get them back.

Taiga takes a step closer, and then another, and then another. He has the urge to poke him like he did when he got back from America, but doesn’t, of course. Instead, he waits a beat, knowing Daiki will turn around and see him anyway.

Sure enough, Daiki dribbles the ball once and then pivots slightly. And then his eyes are locking with Taiga’s and it’s like they saw each other yesterday. Or it’s like they haven’t seen each other in lifetimes. Taiga can’t decide which.

Taiga reminds himself to breath, but god, he just can’t. Daiki’s just perfect in every conceivable way and it pains Taiga to know that he’d love to kiss him right now. Kiss him forever. He wonders if his lips are still soft. He wonders if he would taste like cookies.

“You,” Daiki says. “The fuck are you doing here?” he whispers so Taiga can barely hear it. His words get caught slightly on the wind and it brings them to his ears.

“I don’t know,” Taiga replies, honestly. He refuses to lie. About anything. Not now.

“You don’t know?” He chuckles darkly and it’s not the cackle he used to have. It’s colder. “That’s funny,” he says. “It’s been, what, two years? Three? And then you just show up? What the fuck are you expecting to get from me?” _When did his voice get so deep?_

“I have no idea what I want,” Taiga says. “But I do know what Kuroko wants.”

Daiki’s eyes widen just slightly. “Oh. So he talked to you after all. Tch, I didn’t think he’d do it.”

“I guess he’s worried about you,” Taiga says.

“Doesn’t matter now. We’re not teammates anymore.”

“He said you were friends.”

Daiki’s quiet. “Friends, huh? I don’t think you know what that means.”

Taiga winces. “You’re mad,” he states.

Daiki laughs that same, cold laugh again. “Oh, I’m not mad. Not anymore. I was mad when you stopped answering my texts. I was mad when you wouldn’t pick up your phone. I was mad when I realized you were avoiding me. And then I wasn’t. Then I kept thinking you needed time so I gave you space. Hell, you’d come back to me eventual. You can’t possibly stay away, I thought. But, I guess I underestimated you. You stayed away and you did it well, didn’t you?”

It stings. Taiga hadn’t wanted to hurt him. That was the last thing he wanted. 

“Then I began to wonder if I was as great as I think I am,” he continues. “Guess not, ‘cause you had no problem at all dropping me like a missed pass.” 

Taiga’s already shaking his head. “That’s not true.”

“Oh, yeah? ‘Cause if it wasn’t, you would’ve come back. But then weeks passed, and months, and years and I realized you weren’t coming back. You didn’t need to. It was my own fuck up for thinking that you gave a shit. Ha, and look at me, all that time giving a shit. I don’t anymore, by the way. Give any shits.”

“I cried,” Taiga says abruptly. “I cried after. And then I cried a year later. And sometimes I think I’m still crying about it.” And then Taiga starts laughing. He does it because it’s the only sure fire way of preventing himself from breaking down right now. “Wow, I think we’re just really stupid. Either we’re meant for each other or we’d be terrible for each, ‘cause we don’t have a brain between us.”

Daiki glares at him and it looks almost like the glare he used to give him when they first met. “What are you even talking about, _Baka_ gami?” 

_Well, that’s new._ “I’m saying, _Aho_ mine,” Taiga mentally pats himself on the back for his clever word play, “that I keep thinking I never meant as much to you as you do to me, but I’m always wrong, huh?”

Now it’s Daiki’s turn to laugh. “If you’re just realizing that now, you’re even stupider than I give you credit for.”

“Shut up, asshole,” Taiga says, and it feels like coming home for the first time. “I thought you’d get over it.” He looks down. “I thought you wouldn’t care as much. Maybe that was dumb. I couldn’t imagine you feeling like I did. I mean, we were just kids.”

“You’re so fucking selfish. I should punch you, and I was thinking about it, and you deserve it, but you’re really hot now so I kinda don’t wanna.”

I takes Taiga’s brain a few seconds to reboot after that last comment. “Wait…what?”

Daiki just laughs, and it’s closer to his usual cackle. “Oh, god, your face. You’re such a fucking bitch, Taiga.”

“No, say that again.”

“You’re an ugly ass cunt, did you hear me that time?”

“Yeah, thanks. You’re kinda hot too.” That being the understatement of the century.

Daiki scowls at him, but he’s only scowling because he’d like to appear as if he isn’t blushing. “Shut up, you can’t just strut in here and pretend you didn’t blow me off for two years you asshat.” He goes back to trying to seem upset but he’s having a hard time. It seems like his anger over the last two years is as war with his happiness that Taiga’s there in front of him again. Obviously, he’s not going to make it easy, but Taiga doesn’t care. He knows now that he fucked up. He fucked up by not believing Daiki cared about him. So he’ll do whatever he has to to make him forgive him.

“I’m sorry,” Taiga says. “I messed us up. I’m so sorry.” And he means it. He’s never been more sorry for anything in his life.

Daiki inhales sharply and then exhales with forced calm. “We do one thing really well, Taiga. Feelings? No. Fuck no. But basketball we can do. You play me, right now, one-on-one, and if you win I’ll think about forgiving you.”

“And if I lose?” he asks with a terrified note bleeding into his voice.

“You walk away and don’t come back.”

Taiga feels the weight of the entire world settle on his shoulders. If he wins, which he never has before, at least not at basketball, then maybe, just maybe, they could fix what Taiga broke. If not, Taiga will have to move on. Forever. Stop looking back, stop wondering what could’ve been and finally let him go. Could he even do that? Apparently he’s been unsuccessful these past two years because his composure was gone so fast Taiga is starting to wonder if it was ever there. 

His calm, his “ok-ness” in middle school was a thin veil for the constant ache Daiki’s absence had carved into him and seeing Daiki again tore that veil to shreds, but if he had to walk away, this time at least with some closure, could he really do it?

“Ok, fine, let’s do it.”

“First to twenty. Your ball…”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Am I a horrible person for ending it like that? Probably. Could I have kept this chapter and the next one together? Possibly. Why didn't I? Because I suck, most likely. Oh, and here's another reason why I suck: I might be late posting chapter 18. I would post it on saturday as per my self-imposed schedule, but *ahem* it's not done. School is being stupid and I'm flying home for spring break next week and I'm just BUSY. So, all I'm saying is I can't guarantee a new chapter on saturday. Maybe give me till Tuesday next week. Maybe. Who knows, I might go for my morning run tomorrow and have an epiphany and bang it out in an hour. It happens. Just a heads up is all. I don't much want to be late! Any-who, thoughts? Yeah? No? Well, I'll catch y'all on the flip side!


	17. Paper Dolls, Part 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So you might have noticed I didn't reply to comments this time. One reason: spoilers! I couldn't think of a good way to reply that wasn't spoiler-y! Sorry guys, but as always I read and appreciated all the comments on the last chapter! And now, the final part! Enjoy!

Taiga takes the ball in his hands.

Funny, how it’ll be basketball that ultimately decides his fate. Fitting, really.

He takes a breath. He sees Daiki as he was. When they first met, all wild and alive. Taiga’s probably still in love with him. He probably never _stopped_ being in love with him.

Aren’t you supposed to get over your first? Move on? He feels like his life’s been on pause for the past couple of years, waiting for him to get his shit together and go right back where he belongs: with Daiki. 

But maybe he needed those two years, too. To come to his senses, mature, understand.

Get better at basketball.

He takes a deep breath and, rather than moving, driving to the basket, which Daiki would expect, he leans back and takes the shot from right where he is.

It goes in cleanly, barely disturbing the net.

There didn’t used to be a net here. It’s new.

Daiki gapes at him. “You suck at threes,” he states.

Taiga shrugs. “Yeah, but I suck less now.”

The truth is, he’s never been more focused on a game of basketball in his whole life. He _has_ to win. It’s the only way to get Daiki back.

Daiki takes possession of the ball and glares at Taiga, then he’s faking, driving to his own basket, and that’s when Taiga notices it.

His movements are slower than he remembers. Sluggish. No…Rusty.

It’s like he hasn’t played in a while and Taiga would know; he knows that feeling so well, and Daiki’s got it.

Taiga knocks the ball solidly from his hands, grabs it, dribbling, making a mad dash for the opposite basket.

Now Daiki’s got it back, but again, he’s slower. However, this time he goes for the shot, and as always, it goes in. His uncanny shooting ability doesn’t seem to have waned much, even with his lack of practice; it just comes naturally to him.

Taiga’s going to have to beat him with shear speed. He’s going to have to get to twenty before Daiki gets his rhythm back. It’s the only way. He’s already three points up.

And…wait. Why would the challenge be first to twenty in the first place? Doesn’t he realize that’s the path of least resistance for Taiga?

At the very least, Taiga’s made it to twenty before him. It takes Daiki a bit to get into it, or rather, he’s lazy sometimes and takes his time warming up. Twenty is a completely useless number. 

Did he do that on purpose? Surely he knows better. Surely…

Unless…he _wants_ to lose…

He steals the ball again, Daiki making a surprised little sound like he’s never been stolen from before, and he drives to the basket yet again, going for the layup. It sinks. _Seven points_.

Maybe, some part of him, somewhere, wants Taiga to win.

Daiki takes the ball. He tosses a three in a lazy arc towards his basket. _Five points_.

Now Taiga’s barely keeping counting in his head. He’s too busy putting his everything into it. He can do this. _Have to win, have to win, have to win. Not for me, but for him. Nine points._

_Forget that you suck at threes. Twelve points._

_Forget that he’s better than you. Fourteen points._

_Remember what’s at stake. Sixteen points._

_Remember what you have to do. Eighteen points._

_Remember you loved him once. Prove you still do. Twenty points._

The ball crashes to the ground. Bouncing a few times before settling.

Taiga stares at it. That was twenty. Daiki only has fifteen. 

He breathes, feeling like he’s disturbing the air.

“You…beat…me,” Daiki says in a voice that doesn’t quite sound like his own. He’s breathing hard, hands on his knees. He looks completely shattered, like he’d been in a daze. Like he just needed something, _anything_ to wake him up.

Well he’s awake now, pulled forcibly out of his stupor through the shear weight of losing to Taiga for the very first time. His own terms being his ruin. He blinks, trying to understand. “You…”

“Apparently, the only one who can beat you is me,” Taiga says, though he feels like he’s cheated.

Daiki looks up at him, still panting. “It’s been a while,” he says. “Since…”

“I can tell, you’re rusty as hell. Why’d you stop practicing?”

Daiki looks away. “What’s the point? The better I got the more it sucked. They all just…gave up. If I got any better, there’d be no point anymore.”

He can’t believe he’s hearing Daiki, the only person in the world who loved basketball as much as Taiga, say something like that. “Well, now I’m the point,” he snaps. “You said once that it didn’t matter what happened, you and me are always rivals. You forget that?”

“Did you?” Daiki snaps back. “It’s not like you were around to remind me.”

“Well I’m here now.”

“You say that like it’s good enough.”

Taiga looks down. “It isn’t then?”

Daiki huffs and stomps a foot into the pavement like he’s twelve again. “No, you idiot! I wanted you there then too. Even if we were just friends. Rivals. Did _you_ forget?”

Taiga shakes his head. “No. No, I didn’t. But I loved you too much to even pretend like we could be friends or something.”

“Don’t say shit like that,” Daiki mumbles.

Taiga shrugs. No lying. “It’s true. It was too much for me. I knew I couldn’t do it then, but…maybe I could now.”

“What makes you think I’d give you the chance?” It sounds weak. Like he wants so badly to mean it, but just…doesn’t. Taiga’s breaking back into him, little by little. 

“Because I won. You’re wrong. You’re not alone,” he says. “This is my fault, Daiki. At least let me try to fix it,” he pleads.

“…How’re you gonna do that?” he challenges.

Taiga takes a step forward. And then another. 

Daiki doesn’t budge. 

_Kisses solve everything._

That blonde American, Alex, she might have saved him. Or ruined everything. Here’s to finding out.

He leans forward and kisses him, gently, and with all his remorse and every single other emotion he’s ever felt about him. It’s the only think he can think to do. 

He never wants to be away from him ever again.

Daiki and Taiga are very bad at emotions, and talking, but they’re pretty damn good at basketball and kissing.

Daiki doesn’t kiss him back right away. It’s like he’s fighting it. Being stubborn, but his lips soften against Taiga’s like he just can’t help himself.

He doesn’t taste like cookies, but it’s ok, he tastes like Daiki and that’s perfect.

Daiki’s hands grab the back of his shirt, tugging, and Taiga’s hands are on the sides of his face. Warm and comfortable. 

Daiki feels better than he remembers. Even more perfect. His body fitting against his like they’d been cut out specifically to fit together again. He’d like to live inside his bones and never come out.

But Taiga’s the one who pulls away first, not pulling out of the embrace, not exactly eye level with Daiki, who’s a half an inch or so taller.

“Taiga, you jackass,” he mutters. He looks down, eyes catching on Taiga’s wrist. “You’re still wearing the bracelet, you idiot.” 

“I’m sorry,” Taiga says. Daiki’s still wearing his too. They’re old and faded now, but not broken. He’d never taken it off. 

“You better keep telling me you’re sorry, Bakagami. Over and over and over again. Every single day until I decide to forgive you.”

“Does that mean we’ll have to see each other every single day?” Taiga asks, trying not to break his fucking face with the smile that’s threatening to come. 

_Oh, god, I missed him._

“You’re damn right, that’s what it means!”

Taiga nods. “I’m sorry,” he repeats cheerfully.

“Music to my ears.”

“I’m sorry.” Barely a breath this time. He lays his head on his shoulder.

“I missed you,” Daiki whispers.

Taiga pretends he can’t tell he’s crying. “I’m sorry.”

# ****

Taiga returns home with new confidence. A confidence he’s never had before. 

The certainty that he’ll see Daiki tomorrow has left him feeling like he’s flying. 

This time, they’ve got all summer together. And Taiga’s going to make everything right again, he just knows it.

But first, there’s something he has to do. Something he should’ve had the nerve to do a long time ago. _Huh_ , he thinks to himself, _I really am just like Dr. Toby._

“Mom?”

She’s sitting at the dinning room table will a cup of tea. “Hey, Taiga. Sorry, dinner’s not quite ready yet.”

“That’s fine. Actually, I wanted to talk to you.”

She looks up from her cup. “Ok?”

Taiga sits down across from her, clasping and unclasping his hands. He takes a breath. He can do this. He can do anything. “I’ve been wanting to say it for a while. Like, years now, but I just wasn’t ready yet. I think I’m ready now though. I’m sure you already know, but I still have to say it.”

His mom’s eyes close and she tilts her head up to the ceiling. “Yes. Go ahead,” she says upwards.

“I’m…gay.”

“Yes,” she says. “I know.”

He exhales. “I wanted to say something sooner but…”

She brings her head down slowly, opening her eyes once they’re level with her sons. “But it’s probably your dad’s fault you didn’t. And mine for not saying anything. I didn’t know what to say.”

Taiga shrugs. “That’s part of it. A big part. But it’s kinda me too. I was, I don’t know, in denial. Like the longer I held out on telling you, the better. I knew you wouldn’t be upset though.”

His mom shakes her head. “I am upset, Taiga. I’m just not mad.”

“…what?”

She’s on the verge of tears. “I’m upset because…well, you know I only want the best for you. You’re my son and I think the world of you, so of course I want everyone else to think the world of you too, but I know that they’ll be people who’re cruel and mean and nasty and…” she starts to cry. “I just don’t want you to have to go through it, Taiga. I’m supposed to protect you and I can’t protect you from this. I don’t know what to do,” she sobs.

Taiga gets up and goes to sit beside her. He takes one of her hands, squeezing it tightly. He feels like the adult here. “I know mom, but I can deal with it.”

“Oh, I know you can, I just don’t want you to have to,” she says as she wipes her eyes with her other hand.

He nods. “Well, yeah, me neither. But…that’s just what I’ve gotta do.”

“Why tonight?” she asks. “Why are you telling me tonight?”

“Because I’m in love with Daiki,” he says. Her eyes don’t even widen. She knew. “I knew that, but I was too scared before. I think maybe I wasn’t mature enough. I finally stopped being afraid…or…no, someone told me I had to stop being afraid. So I did.” That little blue haired shadow. What a strange little guardian angel he turned out to be.

“You haven’t seen him since your first year, have you?” she asks.

He shakes his head. “No.”

“I knew you loved him. And he loved you, you know.”

Taiga sighs. “Apparently, I’m an idiot. ‘Cause I knew, but I didn’t know. I’m done being an idiot though.”

His mother laughs and grabs a hold of his nose, squeezing it affectionately. “No you’re not,” she says. “You’ll always be my little idiot, Taiga.”

“Hey!”

She smiles sadly. “I just want you to be happy, Taiga. That’s all a mother should want.”

He nods. “He makes me happy. When he’s not pissing me off.”

She laughs again. _Good._ “Well, then there’s nothing really to say,” she breathes. Then she’s serious. “I’m going to talk to your father, Taiga. You haven’t spoken to each other and I think it’s time we finally fix this.”

Taiga nods. “Yeah.” If Daiki is willing to forgive him, than Taiga might be willing to at least _try_ to forgive his father. 

“I love you, Taiga, and I’m so, so proud of you.” She hugs him close.

“Proud of what?” he asks her shoulder.

“Proud that you’re still keep your head up high and your basketball tucked under your arm. That’s all I could ask for.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Surprised? I bet y'all thought Taiga was gonna lose right? Haha, I considered it but I thought about it and I realized, there's been enough angst for one fic, lets have some more fluff (and maybe some smut too) instead. Even I, the meanest person ever, gets tired of angst, so I hope you don't mind if we transition into cuteness again? Also, I realized, they never DID get to spend a summer together. I think it's high time, don't you?


	18. The Art of Grammar

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Heeeeeeeeeey! I am SO SORRY, for the insane delay. I really wanted to keep this one going on time, but I just could not write this for the past few weeks. I've got no tangible excuse really, but alas, I was just writing dialogue for a two-person scene for one of my writing classes and I just got inspiration from that I guess and it just flowed out of me. FINALLY. Like I finally knew what I wanted to do and where it was going from here and I feel so FREE. Quick warning though. Firstly: um, apparently my promise of no more angst was a bit premature. I'm incapable of not writing angst. Sorry. Secondly: Sexual things? Not much, but some. 
> 
> Also, I really gotta thank all the people who commented between the last chapter and now. Like, I have reread all of your comments a million times to get my ass into gear and I wouldn't have been able to write this without you. So thanks a whole bunch! Keep 'em coming!
> 
> And now, without further ado, enjoy!

Taiga sits on the curb, waiting. He taps his feet, leans back, leans forward, cracks his fingers and leans back again. He’s got way too much energy for just one person, and he needs to dispel it the only way he knows how: basketball.

“Hurry up,” he says to himself. Daiki’s late. Taiga tries to pretend like that doesn’t make his intestines want to tie themselves in knots at the thought that maybe Daiki’s changed his mind and doesn’t want to hang with him after all. His stomach quivers in fear and he chokes out a sigh.

Just when he’s about to full on start panicking, Daiki shows up with his boundless grace and a cocky ass grin. 

“Yo,” he says.

“Late,” Taiga replies, to which Daiki rolls his eyes. 

“I’m here now, aren’t I?”

Taiga pouts but doesn’t reply. 

“Don’t pout.”

Taiga raises an eyebrow. “Why?”

“It’s cute. So don’t. Makes me uncomfortable.”

“That’s like telling me to pout all the time now,” Taiga says wickedly.

“Ugh! No! I feel gay enough as it is. Don’t make me gayer.”

Taiga pouts some more, sticking his lip out further.

Daiki flails his arms at him. “No!”

Taiga laughs and says, “If it makes you feel any better, your pout is really cute too,” just to fuck with him.

Daiki blushes. Taiga still likes making him blush. A lot. “Shut up. What part of ‘don’t make me gayer’ do you not understand?”

“All of it,” he deadpans.

“Dear god…let’s do something straight. Like play basketball.”

“‘Kay.”

And they do. For a long time. Daiki mentions Taiga’s knee in the middle of it, and Taiga threatens to ram it into his stomach if he mentions it again. He’s sick and tired of people’s worrying.

“You do realize that’s what got you injured in the first place, you absolute moron?” Daiki asks.

Taiga flips him off. “It’s _fine_.”

“And you do realize that’s exactly what you said last time?”

“Oh god, get off my ass!”

“No thanks, I’m fine where I am actually. I like being on your ass.”

Taiga stares at him, trying to figure out if the sexual implications of that statement were all in his head or not. 

They weren’t. They’re all over Daiki’s smug face too. He wags an eyebrow at him. “Yes, Taiga?” he says innocently. Taiga’s suddenly aware that in their time apart, Daiki’s become rather…sexual. 

Taiga can’t decide whether he’s mortally afraid or intensely excited.

“I thought you didn’t want to get any gayer?” Taiga shoots back. 

Daiki realizes he’s been caught. “Yeah, well, whatever! I decide when to be gay. And I’m fine with it as long as I’m talking about your ass.”

“Oh, yeah? And why’s that?” Taiga baits him.

Daiki takes the bait happily. “I like your ass,” he says, mostly unabashed.

“That so?”

“Yup. And I just remembered: you haven’t apologized to me yet today. I’m waiting.”

“I’m sorry,” Taiga sing-songs.

“Great, now take a shot or give me the fucking ball.”

# ****

Taiga’s on his third ice cream cone. 

It’s a hot day and he figured, after an intense game, ice cream would be a slightly more welcome treat than hot cheeseburgers. At least that’s what he’s thinking now as he sits outside next to Daiki, back to the hot fence, with two ice creams in each hand. Once he’s done, he might still be hungry. He might suggest a trip to Maji Burger anyway. 

“I see your appetite hasn’t changed,” Daiki mutters, eating his ice cream at a more reasonable pace.

Taiga nods as a single drop of vanilla slinks down his chin. Daiki stares intently at it for a long moment before leaning in and _licking it off his face._

Taiga just sits there, stunned into silence, staring.

Daiki just goes back to his own ice cream like nothing happened. “You’ve only said ‘I’m sorry’ once today, you know. I think you could probably get a couple more in.”

Taiga, after a valiant attempt to collect himself says, “I’m sorry?” but it comes out rather like a question because his brain’s still too busy rebooting itself out of a blue screen. 

“Good,” Daiki says happily. He stares at Taiga out of the corner of his eye before sucking his ice cream into his mouth top first and sucking on it. 

Taiga had never really thought of ice cream as phallic before, but now he isn’t sure he’ll be able to look at it the same way again, in fact, he nearly drops his ice creams at the sight of Daiki sucking lewdly on his dessert, making all kinds of slurping sounds and getting sticky white cream - a very good analog for something else entirely - all over his lips.

Taiga chokes while trying to breathe.

Daiki raises his eyebrows. “Yes, Taiga?” he echoes from earlier, licking ice cream off his mouth in the single most sexual way possible. 

“What are you trying to do to me?” he asks earnestly.

“I don’t know what your talking about,” Daiki says, turning away, but he’s got a terrible, evil smirk on his face. 

Taiga figures this must be his punishment for the last couple of years. 

Daiki’s obviously trying to make him suffer, and he’s using the sheer force of his newfound sexiness to do it. It’s downright cruel to be honest, but Taiga figures he probably deserves it. And after all, it could probably be worse. It’s actually a punishment that rather befits the crime. Daiki’s way of saying “look what you’ve been missing, you idiot.”

Problem is, Taiga doesn’t know how long he can take the heat before he burns alive.

# ****

“Does your dad know about…us?” Taiga hedges as Daiki fumbles with his keys. 

He knows Daiki’s mom knows, of course, but he has no idea if his dad’s aware or not. 

“Nope.”

“Oh.” 

After yet another game and cheeseburgers (because Taiga couldn’t help himself), Daiki suggested they go back to his place for some video games. Taiga couldn’t really say no because spending time with him felt like clear water in the middle of a desert; he _needed_ this time. He’d been without it so long and now that he has it, he doesn’t understand how he ever functioned without it. The more time the better. 

Daiki opens the door and turns to look at him. “Don’t worry, he’s not home,” he says in an odd voice. “He’ll figure it out at some point. You coming?” He goes inside not bothering to see if Taiga’s following him. 

After a moment, he does, but his heart’s doing weird things in his chest and his movements feel jerky, stilted, and not quite his own. Like he’s a puppet being controlled by inexperienced hands.

He’s alone, with Daiki, in Daiki’s house. 

He clearly remembers what happened the last time he was in this situation and his face heats up at the thought alone. 

He bounces slightly on his toes to calm his nerves.

“Soda?” Daiki asks from the kitchen. 

“Sure.”

Daiki comes back with two Sodas and turns on his Playstation 4 on his way to the couch.

“Nice PS4.”

“Hells yeah it is,” Daiki brags, leaning back, looking fucking pleased with himself. “Got a shit load of games too,” he says, pulling some out from under the coffee table. 

They decide on NBA 2k15 and Daiki proceeds to kick the shit out of Taiga.

“No fair! I’ve never played.”

“Too bad, Taiga, I ain’t going easy,” he says, grinning.

They play until Taiga finally beats Daiki, at which point Daiki just _happens_ to decide that they should stop.

“You’re just mad cause I won,” Taiga says, fighting to urge to stick his tongue out at him like a fucking ten-year old.

“No, I’m not! And I don’t hear you apologizing,” he snaps. 

Taiga sighs. “I’m sorry.”

“Good,” and then he leans over and kisses him smack on the lips without preamble. 

Taiga’s caught off guard, but apparently his lips don’t need much help from his brain because they start kissing him back of their own volition.

Daiki leans in some more so he’s practically on top of Taiga, hands in his hair, then on his neck, his face, his chest. It’s a very impatient kind of kiss, with lots of panting and scrambling hands. 

When Daiki finally pulls away he breathes, “Sorry,” still out of breath.

“Why?” Taiga asks, genuinely surprised he managed to actually get a word out clearly. 

“I just…it’s been kinda hard to keep my hands off you,” he says, very honestly, not a touch of joking in his voice.

Taiga stutters, suddenly unable to form any coherent thoughts at all.

“Goddammit, Taiga,” Daiki grits, but he doesn’t sound like he’s talking to him. “What are you trying to do to me?” he whispers Taiga’s words right back at him.

Taiga laughs himself into coherency. “ _I’m_ not doing anything. What the fuck are _you_ doing?”

“I…don’t know. I’m…I missed you. Like a lot.”

“I know,” Taiga says. “I’m sorry.” He leans back into him, kissing him slowly, savoring, but Daiki’s so impatient that he jams his tongue into his mouth. Taiga actually moans a little in what is partially surprise and partially something else as Daiki starts exploring the inside of his mouth almost languidly, suddenly satisfied, like they’ve got all the time in the world to discover the secrets of each other’s mouths.

Taiga’s eyes are closed and he can hardly breath so everything starts feeling light and floaty, the edges of his consciousness just barely sinking out of view, and it only serves to intensify his focus on the boy he’s kissing. 

It’s just him and Daiki, finally, _finally_ here. Nothing else around.

Maybe he’s being forgiven.

And then the strange, serene calm breaks and scatters when Daiki pulls in closer, sits more firmly in his lap and Taiga can feel him hard against his stomach, and he suddenly aware that he’s getting hard too.

And that’s when he panics.

He pulls away, gasping a little 

“What’s wrong?” Daiki asks, and his voice is heavy and slow and the sound of it has Taiga’s dick perking up. 

“I…nothing…it’s just, I should go.”

“What?” Daiki looks startled at the mere suggestion of Taiga not occupying his personal space; he even hangs onto his shoulders a little tighter. “Why?”

“It’s getting late, you know. And my mom probably wants me back for dinner and everything,” he says, pleased with himself for being able to string that entire sentence together like that, when just seconds before, grammar itself eluded him. 

“What?” Daiki says, still stunned, probably from being yanked so suddenly out of the kiss.

“I’ll text you later,” he says hurriedly, extracting himself from Daiki’s grasp. 

Daiki says nothing, just stares at the spot Taiga just vacated in complete confusion.

“I’m sorry,” he says, but it’s for something completely differently this time. And then he turns and walks out the door, not waiting for Daiki’s reply. 

Once outside and a little ways away, he stops in the middle of the sidewalk, trying to find his sanity again.

Why did he do that?

Didn’t he _want_ that?

Daiki was practically offering himself up on a silver platter and Taiga ran. _Oh, god, what did I just do? He’s gonna hate me again. I just fucked everything up._

But the truth of the matter is, he's terrified and doesn’t really know why. It was just so fast, he didn’t even have time to think about what was happening. Daiki was so… _ready_ , like he’d been waiting all day to get him alone, and now all those comments he made, the licking, the sucking, made sense.

Daiki _wanted_ him, and Taiga wants him too, _really_ wants him. He gets distracted by those lips and those heavy lidded eyes, no longer as wide, but just as wild. The muscles in his arms, the curve of his back; it all sent Taiga’s mind into a terrified, excited frenzy, but once it was actually happening, once he literally had Daiki right where he wanted him, he freaked out.

The feeling of his dick pressing against his stomach is etched into his memory and if he isn’t careful, his own dick will get too excited, but somehow it became so real, so fast, that the only logical thing he could even think to do was run.

“Argh!” He tugs at his stupid hair on his stupid head.

What’s _wrong_ with him?

He goes home downcast. 

His mom’s on the phone when he gets in, so he just waves. She doesn’t wave back.

He frowns, but goes up to the bathroom, takes a shower, jerks off thinking of Daiki, and then hates himself for it. He crawls into bed and cocoons himself in his covers, wracking his brain for a logical reason why he’d walk out on his extremely sexy kinda-almost-boyfriend who obviously wanted to do _things_ with him.

He doesn’t have much time to think though because his mom knocks on the door quietly a few minutes later. “Taiga?”

“What?” he snaps, harsher than he means to. “Sorry,” he says immediately after.

“Are you ok?” she asks.

“No,” he says, unable to bring himself to lie to her.

“So…this is a bad time then?”

He turns in the covers to look at her. “For what?”

“Your dad’s on the phone.”

Taiga’s face turns every color of the rainbow before he finally says. “Ok. Give me the phone.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yeeeeeah. I'm sure you knew that was coming eventually. Anyway, thanks for reading. I'm going to try my darndest to get the next chapter out in a timely manner. I'm not going to promise any specific day because I don't want to break anymore promises, but I say tentatively, within the next week. I think I can do that. As always, comments are more than appreciated. Feed the monster, if you please.


	19. Spoken Word

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yes, I did it! I got it done on time. This went through, like, ten billion rewrites in a very short amount of time, but finally I am pleased with the final product. So hope you like it!

Taiga’s nerves are still frayed from his encounter with Daiki earlier and he knows he probably shouldn’t be talking to his dad right now, but he decides somewhere between his mom telling him his dad was on the phone and his reply that he rather deal with this thing - his dad - here and now than keep rolling the Daiki thing around in his mind like a candy on his tongue. So he takes the phone in his hand and says, as bravely as he can, “Hello, dad.”

“Hey, Taiga,” his dad replies quietly. “Look, um, I’ve got nothing to say except, I’m sorry. For all of it. Completely sorry. Everything I said…I shouldn’t have and I’m so sorry that I pushed you away when you needed me…I’ve been a terrible dad to you, haven’t I?”

Taiga tries not to feel sympathy. Tries so, so hard, but he’s his dad and that last part breaks his heart a little. He holds his tongue though. He can’t forgive him that easily. “Well, I appreciate the apology,” he says honestly.

“Yeah,” he sighs. “Yeah, that’s all I can really do. That and time, I guess. I’ve been talking to your mom a lot lately. She…says you’re doing well.”

“Yeah,” he hedges. He certainly _was_ doing well, right before he dropped an atomic bomb on his relationship. 

“She, uh, says you and Daiki have…gotten together. Again, apparently?”

“Yeah, we were before, but, you know, stuff kinda got in the way.”

“So everything’s good now?” he asks. He sounds genuinely curious and caring. He just wants Taiga to be okay.

“…yeah. I’m still…working things out, I guess. But I’m fine.”

“You know, if there’s anything you ever wanna talk about, I-“

Taiga cuts him off. “I think it’s a little late for that, dad.”

There’s a bloated pause and then, “Right. Right, of course. That was…presumptuous.” He clears his throat. “Well, as long as you’re doing alright then…that’s good. And your mother-“

“I know mom’s here for me. _She’s_ proven that.”

“…Right. Good. Well, uh, you have a goodnight then, Taiga.”

“Goodnight.” He hangs up, and squeezes the phone like it’s the only thing keeping him alive. His breath is shaky, but he got through that. Handled it pretty well, he thinks. He actually feels a bit better. His relationship with his dad is on the mend it seems. More than he can say for certain relationships. 

He groans. Now that that’s over, he has nothing to distract himself from his own thoughts. 

His mom comes in, interrupting his pity party. “So?”

Taiga shrugs. “He apologized. Sounded pretty genuine. I didn’t say I forgave him though.”

“That’s fine, Taiga. It takes time and he doesn’t deserve it yet.”

Taiga groans again. He himself was after forgiveness. There’s no way Daiki would forgive him now.

His mom sighs and comes to sit beside him on the bed. “Ok, Taiga, what is it?”

He shakes his head, lying back and throwing his arm over his face. “I just…I’m just an idiot.”

“Why? Specifically, I mean?”

He hears teasing in her voice and smiles briefly before going back to feeling sorry for himself. “I messed up with Daiki,” he says honestly. 

“How?”

He has no desire to give her the details and tells her so.

“Taiga, I’m sure whatever it is, you can work it out. That’s what being in a relationship is about: working things out, talking, communicating. There isn’t a problem that can’t be solved by talking it out honestly. 

“That’s…hard.”

“I know, but it’s usually worth it. You tell the other person what you’re feeling. They tell you what they’re feeling, and you discuss it, problem solve, brainstorm. You’re big boys now, solve it.”

He laughs a little. “I…ok…Thanks, mom.”

“No problem, that’s what moms are for.” She gives him a hug and kisses his head before leaving him alone again.

He lays back. Feeling like he’s got some kind of mountain in front of him.

Maybe he better start climbing it.

# ****

He calls Daiki in the morning. 

He doesn’t pick up the first time, but Taiga calls again and after the fourth ring, he hears “What do you want?”

“To…talk?” He didn’t mean it as a question, but Daiki sounds kinda pissed, rightly so if he’s honest, so it comes out more hesitant than he meant it to be.

“I don’t think we have anything to talk about. You made it pretty clear how you felt yesterday.”

“No, Daiki, listen, you don’t understand-“

“I’m not stupid, Taiga. Maybe you think I can’t take a fucking hint, but I _get it_. Obviously, you don’t wanna do this.”

“Thats not true. I do, I just-“

“Dai-chan, is that your boyfriend?!”

“Shut up, Satsuki.”

_Satsuki._

That’s that girl. His childhood friend.

“Dai-chan, don’t be so rude. Invite him over, I wanna meet him.”

“Satsuki-“

“Tai-chan?” she calls through the phone. “We’re at Maji Burger! Come over!”

“Satsuki!” Daiki yells back at her. And then he hangs up.

They’re at Maji Burger.

Taiga silently apologizes to Satsuki for hating her all this time. She might prove to be his saving grace. 

Maybe he can’t get through to Daiki directly right now - he has a feeling Daiki won’t stick around - but at least he might be able to get her to talk to him in his place. 

He hurries over to Maji Burger, and, as he expected, Daiki’s nowhere to be seen. He realizes then that he has no idea what Satsuki looks like, but after peering around a bit he realizes there’s only one girl in the place, back to him with long pink hair. He goes over.

“Satsuki-san?”

She looks up from where she was pouting angrily at her plate. “Tai-chan?”

“Uh, yeah?” _Tai-chan? She already has a nickname for me?_

She looks him up and down and Taiga looks away, embarrased at being appraised so openly. Finally she says, “Oh, my god, you’re really hot.”

He blushes all the way up to his scalp and then some at her honesty. “Um, thanks.”

“Sit,” she commands. Taiga can’t do anything, but obey. The girl’s pushy. He can imagine even Daiki having a hard time disobeying her. “Dai-chan left. Jerk.”

“Yeah, I figured.” He looks at her as nonchalantly as possible. She’s very pretty. Beautiful really. With wide pink eyes, pale skin, and (yes even Taiga has to notice) enormous breasts.

She catches him looking and smiles slightly. 

Taiga waves his hands in front of him. “Sorry, sorry, I was just-“

“Oh, it’s fine. I know you’re not interested. Dai-chan stares all the time, but he doesn’t like anything about me other than my boobs anyway.”

Taiga makes a noncommittal noise in his throat. It’s not like he doesn’t know boys aren’t the only thing on Daiki’s mind, he just doesn’t much like being reminded of it. It makes him jealous knowing that he enjoys the attention girls inevitably pay him.

“Besides, I’m interested in someone else.” She gets a dreamy look in her eyes. “Tetsu-kun,” she whispers.

The names sounds vaguely familiar. “Tetsu-kun?”

“Tetsuya. Kuroko Tetsuya.”

Then Taiga remembers. He snorts. “The little blue haired guy?”

“Oh, yeah! You know him?” 

“We met once.”

“I love him,” she says matter-of-factly.

To be honest, Kuroko doesn’t seem like her type, but he just says “That’s cool.”

“Why is Dai-chan mad at his hot boyfriend?” she asks.

“He didn’t tell you?”

She shakes her head and takes of sip of her milkshake. “No, no. He just called me and said we were getting food and then he sat there eating burgers and glaring at everything. He wouldn’t tell me what happened, but I figured it was something between you two.” She pauses to have a bite of her burger and Taiga’s stomach growls. “Oh,” she says. “Dai-chan says you eat a lot. Wanna get some food first? Then you can tell me all about it.” She gets a serious look on her face. “And I mean _all_. Every little detail.”

Taiga nods, but has no intentions of telling her everything. “Oh, and can you get me another cheeseburger?” she asks. 

Taiga nods again. “Sure.” Judging by the wrappers on the table, this had to be her third. Taiga decides right then in there that he likes this Satsuki girl.

He comes back with the food and Satsuki daintily unwraps the cheeseburger before not-so-daintily stuffing a good portion in her mouth. She chews for a while, swallows, has another sip of her extra-large milkshake, and finally says. “Ok, so, what happened?”

He sighs. “From the beginning, or just from yesterday?”

She puts a finger to her lips and ponders this. “Beginning. I’ve heard Dai-chan’s side of the story. Now it’s your turn.

He takes a deep breath. “Well…”

He ends up telling her nearly everything. It just comes pouring out. She interrupts sporadically, asking questions for clarification, but mostly, she just listens. 

She has an almost creepy focus that contradicts her pleasant, bubbly looks. When he gets to yesterday, he slows down.

“We hung out all day, and it was really nice, you know? Hanging out together again, but…well…then we went back to his place and…” he trails off, coming to a standstill. 

He’d managed to skip over the really awkward parts before - they weren’t all that important - but now that he’s reached the heart of the problem, he doesn’t know how to continue without giving her the full truth.

Thankfully, she spares him the agony. “He totally tried to jump you,” she says.

“Uh. Well. Kinda.”

She twirls her hair around her finger. “Dai-chan’s a perv,” she says. “And he really, really likes you, Tai-chan. A lot. More than anyone, actually.”

Taiga blushes at that.

“So, I’m not really surprised.” She tilts her head to the side. “Are you really that surprised, Tai-chan?”

“Well…no. I kinda knew, but I just didn’t know how to react to that. At all. So I freaked out and bailed.”

“Hmm…no one can blame you for freaking out, Tai-chan. But you didn’t say anything, did you?”

“…No,” he says, suddenly ashamed under her powerful, focused eyes.

“You should’ve. You should’ve just told him he was being a pervert and that you weren’t ready for that.”

“I know. But, I don’t know sometimes.”

“What do you mean?”

“If I’m ready or not. I think about him all the time, and…I feel _that_ way about him, and sometimes…I want to too.”

“Well, then, tell him that. Then wasn’t the right time, but that doesn’t mean they’ll never be a right time…He thinks you don’t like him as much as he likes you.”

“That’s insane!” And exactly what Taiga thinks half the time. Sometimes he feels like there’s just no way Daiki can possibly feel the same way Taiga feels. 

“I know. I know you two love each other and everything. You’re just both really dumb,” she says so primly he almost doesn’t realize he’s being insulted.

“Wait…hey!”

She smiles a little. “Don’t worry, he’ll be fine once he’s done sulking. I’ll say something to him.”

“You will?”

“Sure. And then you two can talk. Right?”

“Right.”

“Good!” She claps her hands once. “So, since Dai-chan is in such a bad mood, do _you_ wanna go shopping with me Tai-chan?”

“Shopping?”

She nods happily. “He said he’d go with me but,” she waves her hands as if dismissing him. “You can go with me instead.”

Taiga can’t even contemplate turning her down. She’s been so nice. Besides, if they could go by the Nike store, he can’t really complain. “Sure, ok.”

“Great!” She gets up, grabbing him by the arm and dragging him out the door, babbling about clothes and whatever else it is girls talk about. 

Taiga’s not really listening. 

He’s too busy trying to figure out how exactly to apologize to his boyfriend for being an ass.

# ****

“Hey,” Daiki says, scaring the living shit out of Taiga, who’s sitting on the curb, too buried in his own thoughts to notice his approach.

“Oh! Oh, shit. Hey.” He honestly didn’t expect to see him today. It’s late. Taiga practiced by himself at the courts for a while to clear his head before coming home and doing absolutely nothing but figure out what to say to Daiki. And now here he is.

“Yo. You good?” Daiki cocks his head to the side. He doesn’t look like he’s mad anymore, which is a relief. Though he looks a bit subdued.

“Sorry, yeah. I was just…thinking.”

“I wouldn’t if I were you. You might hurt yourself.”

Taiga glares at him. “You’re lucky I like your face so much. Otherwise, I’d punch it.”

“Aww, how sweet.” Daiki looks down at his feet. “So you talked to Satsuki?”

“Uh-huh.”

Daiki’s disturbingly quiet. “So…about yesterday…”

“I’m really sorry,” Taiga says. “I shouldn’t have ditched you like that.”

“Well, uh, and I guess…I kinda got carried away.” Daiki looks away with a miserable expression on his face. That’s the closest thing to an apology Taiga is likely to get.

“No, no. It’s fine. It was mostly me being…weird.” He pauses; takes a deep breath. “I…love you, you know. I don’t want you to think…” he trails off, unsure now what to say. 

Daiki blinks and a wrinkle forms between his eyebrows. “I know. I do too. That’s why…you know.”

Taiga nods. “Yeah. I do.” He sighs. God does he know. Sooner or later, _he_ won’t be able to keep his hands to himself. What is he gonna do then?

_Give in._

Most Likely.

“Still, I probably shouldn’t have done that.”

“You didn’t really _do_ anything. I was just kinda scared of what _might_ happen.”

“…And you don’t want anything to happen.”

It’s not really a question, but Taiga blurts out, “No!” and then realizes how, well, eager that sounded. “I mean, it’s not that I don’t, because I do. Maybe. Probably. I just…I didn’t really have time to think, you know? I _couldn’t_ think. You’re kinda distracting.”

“Oh, am I?” Daiki asks innocently.

Taiga screws his face up. He really needs to stop fueling the fire. “Shut up. Point is…I’m sorry I didn’t say anything. That was dumb.”

“You’re dumb,” Daiki replies. “So…I guess I should expect it.”

“Hey!”

“It’s fine, moron.”

“Yeah?”

“Yeah, we’re fine.”

“Good.” Taiga feels a weight lifted from his shoulders. He’s at the top of the mountain now and he can barely contain his relief. 

“So, up for some one-on-one?” Daiki asks.

“Now?”

“Yeah, now. I’ve been bored all day. Especially since you stole Satsuki.”

“I did not! If anything, she stole me!”

Daiki goes on like he didn’t hear him. “And then she was like ‘oh, Dai-chan, you need to be nicer to Tai-chan, he’s so sweet. Stop being a jerk.’ What’s this Tai-chan shit anyway?” he fumes.

“I don’t know, she just started calling me that!”

“You are so lucky you’re gay, otherwise I’d be really jealous right about now.”

Taiga rolls his eyes. “Yeah, well, I am and she’s into your friend Kuroko anyway.”

“Yeah, yeah, true.”

“If there’s anyone who should be jealous, it’s me. Even _I_ know she’s hot.”

“I don’t like her like that. At all.” He shivers like even the thought sickens him, which is comforting.

But, “You like her boobs,” Taiga retorts.

“I like boobs,” he replies. “I don’t really care who they’re connected to.”

“Well, I don’t have boobs.”

“No shit. Good thing I love you so much,” he says.

Taiga can’t even say anything to that so he just elbows him in the ribs.

“Ow!”

“Come on, let’s play before it gets too late.”

“Whatever, Bakagami.”

Taiga smiles. 

Apparently, there’s no mountain high enough…

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks as always for reading. Lemme know what you thought. And I have some, uh, bad news. I think I'm almost done with this. I'm not sure how many more chapters I'm gonna write because I've known where I was gonna stop since the beginning and I'm almost there. So I just a heads up that we're almost at the end! Thanks for sticking with me y'all! I hope to get the next chapter up this week as well. See ya soon!


	20. Watercolors

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hullo everybody! So, I wrote this, like, super fast (I was in a mood or something), but I held out on posting it because I wanted it to be a little weekend present. So, happy weekend! Here, have some smut. Yes, warning, sexual content ahead, however, it's not really all that explicit and they are at an age where I don't feel as weird about writing it. Still, if it makes you uncomfortable, I suggest skipping it. That's totes cool! Thanks as always for the comments, and enjoy!

“I told my dad about us,” Daiki proclaims as they gather their stuff, getting ready to leave the court.

“You did?” 

“I did, so if we’re gonna have sex we gotta do it at your place.”

“What?!” Taiga sputters.

“I’m joking…except not really. My dad’s a little weird about it.”

“Weird how?”

“Not, like, bad, but just weird. He seemed kinda surprised for a second and then kinda not surprised. And then he started babbling on about the importance of safe sex and education. I left at that point.”

“Oh.” Taiga looks away, unsuccessfully hiding the color of his face from Daiki.

“Oh, calm down, you prude. I’m just saying, he might not be so hot on the idea of us hanging out alone at the house. That’s all.”

“I’m not a prude,” Taiga protests.

“Sure, you’re not.” Daiki wanders over and pinches Taiga’s butt.

“Ah! What the fuck?” Taiga squeals embarrassingly.

“Not a prude, right?” 

“Pinching my ass proves nothing.”

“I disagree.” Daiki shrugs. Taiga rolls his eyes. “What does your mom think?”

“About?…Oh. Uh, I have no idea. She didn’t really say anything about it…but she works all day, so…”

“Does she?” Daiki sounds _way_ too interested.

“Daiki,” Taiga groans.

“What? I’m just, you know, thinking.”

“Do you ever think about anything that doesn’t involve sex or basketball?” Taiga asks, half serious.

Daiki blinks at him. “I don’t understand the question.”

Taiga hits him over the head with his backpack.

# ****

Over dinner, Taiga decides to question his mother. Covertly, of course. “Hey mom?”

“Yes, Taiga?”

“Uh…so…what do you think about Daiki staying the night tomorrow?”

She stares at him, squinting. “Is that code for ‘is it ok if I have sex with my boyfriend?’” she asks.

Taiga wants to crawl into a hole and die. How do mothers always know absolutely fucking _everything_! 

“Or is it, ‘hey mom, can you get out of the house for a couple of hours _so_ I can have sex with my boyfriend?’ Because if that’s the case, just ask.”

“No, it’s…wait…what?”

She shrugs. “No need to be so candid, Taiga.”

“Huh?”

She sighs. “It’s fine. I mean, I can’t stop you, I work all day, anyway. There’s nothing I can really say to stop a couple of horny teenage boys to prevent them from doing whatever they want, now is there? Even if I say no, or I’m not ok with it, in the end you’re still going to do what you want. There’ll just be more resentment there. It’s best if I give you the freedom.”

“Did you read that somewhere?” he has to ask.

“Yes. I did. Why?” she asks defensively.

Taiga shrugs. “No reason. And I wasn’t asking. I just wanted to know what you thought.”

“Oh. So you don’t want to?”

“No, I do. I mean, I don’t. I mean…ugh! I don’t know.”

His mom smiles softly at him. “I trust you to not doing anything you don’t want to do.”

He nods. “Yeah.”

“You’re such a good son, Taiga.”

“Mo-om! Stop it.” He blushes.

“Aww.” She goes over and smushes Taiga into a very mushy hug. “I love you, Taiga.”

“Yeah, love you too mom.” He pats her arm.

That went almost too well. 

He’s not even sure he should let Daiki in on it. If he realizes Taiga’s house is a perpetual safe zone…

Best not excite him.

_Too_ much.

# ****

Taiga wasn’t really planning on inviting him over. It kinda just happened. And he swears, it had nothing to do with sex at all when he did it. That’s not what he was thinking about.

It was hot, they’d been playing for a while, he wasn’t in the mood for ice cream, but there was cold lemonade in the fridge, so it seemed logical.

And he _swears_ even the sex didn’t have anything to do with sex. At first. He blames the compromising position on the remote. And fucking _Pop Princess Wars…_

“Give it.” Daiki tries to yank the remote toward him.

“No.”

“Give. It.”

“No, back off. We’re not watching that reality show bullshit.”

“It’s not bullshit, Taiga, it’s Idols. It’s _important._ ”

“Oh my god.”

“You’re gay, you should like this shit.”

“Oh. My. God. Stereotypes.”

“Give it.” Daiki makes another swipe for the remote. Taiga moves if further out of reach.

“No!”

“Goddammit, Taiga, I’m missing Pop Princess Wars!”

“Who the hell is gay again?”

“Stereotypes!” he shrieks.

Taiga laughs, running away. “Nope. You can’t have it.”

“Taiga-“

“No way. Not in this house.”

“You’d better give me that remote.”

“Or what?” Taiga purrs.

“Or I’ll have to take it from you.”

“I’d love to see you try, babe.” _Babe? Where the fuck did that come from?_

Daiki glares at him, and then his glare turns into something that’s not quite a glare. Whatever it is, it makes his breath catch in his throat and his heart come up to replace it. 

“You sure you want that?” The words all but slink their way out of Daiki’s mouth.

Taiga makes a squeaky little sound and wonders faintly if he does indeed want him to try. That tiny, neglected voice - the one that had scolded him to no end for running from Daiki - was rearing it’s ugly head, screaming _yes! Let him try._ He’s pretty sure that voice resides somewhere in his groin area.

“Maybe…”

Daiki’s smile curls a little at the edges and it’s as terrifying as it is unfairly sexy. “I don’t know, Taiga.”

Taiga’s breath hitches again. “Go ahead and try,” he says, his voice sounding raspy in his own ears. He fixes Daiki with a pointed stare before darting in front of the couch in an attempt to escape.

Daiki’s faster though. As always. He tackles him and pins him to the couch, but Taiga still won’t relinquish the remote.

“Give it!”

“No!”

He tosses it from hand to hand, just barely out of Daiki’s reach.

He makes another pass at it, but ends up smacking Taiga in the face instead.

“Ow!” Taiga smacks him back. Daiki grabs his hair with one hand and tries for the remote again with the other. Taiga puts his palm over Daiki’s face, muffling whatever obscenities he’s spouting. 

And then Taiga’s palm is wet.

He’s draws it back in surprise. “You licked me!”

“Yup. Give. Me. The. Remote!”

“Never!”

Daiki leans down and sticks his tongue in Taiga’s ear.

“Eww!” Taiga very nearly drops the remote, but he clasps it in his hand tighter, unwilling to lose, and even more unwilling to sit through a single second of Pop Princess Wars.

“Ugh, Taiga!”

“No!”

Daiki sticks his tongue in Taiga’s mouth this time.

Taiga drops the remote.

Daiki pulls back, face flushed red, staring into Taiga’s eyes until he notices the remote on the floor.

He goes to grab it but Taiga takes his hand, grabs the back of his neck and jams their lips together to distract him.

Daiki groans against him in frustration. Probably. His hand still reaching out for the remote, but with less and less intent each second that passes.

Taiga knows exactly what he’s doing. And this time, he doesn’t know if he even _can_ stop, let alone wants to.

Daiki actually breaks away first, looking dazed and confused. “Taiga?”

“Don’t touch that remote,” Taiga hisses.

Daiki glares, “Don’t tell me what to do, idiot.”

Taiga rolls his eyes and silences him with another kiss.

He can practically _feel_ Daiki trying to think, trying to keep his focus, but Taiga’s slowly sucking it out right through his mouth.

All at once, he gives up on the remote and tangles his hand in Taiga’s hair instead. 

Taiga doesn’t move away. Can’t even think about it, Daiki feels so good against him. 

Daiki pulls away again, eliciting a sound of annoyance from Taiga. “We can stop,” he says breathlessly. He sounds like the wants to do anything but, and yet he says it anyway. 

It’s enough.

Taiga shakes his head. “No way,” he says. This time, he's all too ready.

Daiki just stares at him. Then he goes back in, humming his affirmation in his throat as he explores Taiga’s mouth with his tongue and his body with his hands.

They find their way under his shirt, skin touching bare skin, raising goosebumps even though it’s about a million degrees. 

Taiga starts to squirm, wanting more skin and fast.

Daiki, as if reading his mind, shoves his shirt up over his head and starts kissing his neck. 

Taiga bites his lip against a moan as his hands comb across Daiki’s scalp. 

His hair is sinfully soft. It isn’t fair. 

Daiki sucks on his neck, bruising it most likely, and Taiga doesn’t even care. Doesn’t care that his mom’s gonna know what he did while she was gone the second she looks at him Doesn’t care about anything at all that isn’t Daiki.

Taiga’s breathing turns breathy and a pathetic little whining sound starts coming out of his throat before his can quell it. 

He takes Daiki’s face in his hands and smashes their lips together gracelessly and Daiki’s making the best noises, turning loose and pliant against him.

It’s a sloppy, messy kiss and not enough at all. 

“Daiki,” he whispers. He can barely form a coherant thought. All he knows is that there’s entirely too much fabric between them at the moment.

Daiki pulls away from him and every nerve in Taiga’s body starts complaining loudly at the lose of contact, but then he’s back, sans shirt, and everything is fantastic.

Dazed as hell and completely drunk off of Daiki’s smell, Taiga still manages to freak out a bit at the tightness of his pants and the hardness against his thigh, but it’s a quiet thing, just resting at the back of his mind and he manages to shove it down rather completely as Daiki starts unbuttoning his shorts.

Taiga follows suit, praising his decision to wear shorts with a draw-string today, because his hands are shaking so damn much he’d never be able to fight with buttons. 

Somehow they both get their shorts off at about the same time and everything becomes very slow, the franticness dying once it’s just their underwear between them. 

Daiki pulls away slightly, just looking at him, and his eyes look almost exactly the way they did when they first met; bright with some kind of barely repressed, inhuman fire that Taiga can hardly understand. 

Taiga just stares into them, transfixed by the intensity, the stark _blueness_ against dark, dewy skin.

There are little droplets of sweat across his nose, shinning there beneath his eyes. His short eyelashes are damp and shiny too. His lips red from kissing and moist from a little too much eager saliva. 

He’s beautiful. 

The most beautiful thing in the world.

Taiga wonders, numbly, if it would be acceptable to just die now. He’d probably be fine with that.

Everything keeps on as if in slow motion.

Daiki leans down to kiss him again, but without the manic edge; slow and almost timid.

Taiga’s eyes drift open and closed like ocean waves.

His hands reach up and around him, splayed fingers on his back, damp with his sweat.

It’s too, too hot. Sticky. Almost like a womb.

Taiga gasps as one of Daiki’s hands ghosts over his ribs and he shifts between Taiga’s legs.

Daiki makes an indescribable sound, somewhere between a moan, a sigh, and a laugh, and says “Oh, god, Taiga.”

But Taiga can’t speak at all so he hooks his fingers in his own underwear and slides them off, and it feels like it takes forever, moisture stopping his progress, but then they’re off and he’s never, ever been this naked before.

Daiki’s breath catches audibly in his throat and he looks like he’s going to say something, but then he’s just naked instead. Taiga doesn’t even process the moment between clothed and not, but it doesn’t matter.

For a small eternity, they just hold each other, pressed flushed together, Daiki looking at Taiga and Taiga looking at him and Taiga has no idea how he even got to this place, this moment, and he can’t recall why he should care either.

Daiki leans down again, kisses Taiga’s neck, whispers something that sounds suspiciously like “I love you,” before he slides his naked hips against Taiga and Taiga’s mind whites out to absolutely nothing.

He wraps his legs around him, closing his eyes, tipping his head back and Daiki presses kisses to his neck and lets his hips do all the talking.

They grind their hips together, slowly, experimenting, shifting around for better angles, for more contact, more friction until they both start making jerky, impatient motions and nothing’s slow anymore.

The franticness comes back.

Taiga digs his fingers into Daiki’s back, squeezing his eyes shut as Daiki pants in his ear. He might be panting his name. Or maybe not. He doesn’t know.

Taiga groans loudly, heat coiling in his lower stomach. He wraps his legs around his waist even tighter, trying to get closer, closer, closer.

Daiki moves a little faster, rougher. The friction is almost not enough. Almost. Taiga has the urge to reach down and jerk them both off, but they’ve got the position just right now and Taiga can’t bring himself to remove his hands from Daiki’s back so he just grinds against him in time and bites his lip. Daiki chokes out “Taiga, I’m gonna-“ and never finishes the sentence. 

Taiga’s mind is so pure, so numb to everything that’s not Daiki’s body, that he can’t say a word. He just gasps and it turns into a moan that turns into a prayer and he’s never felt anything better in his life.

# ****

Daiki’s finger trailing down Taiga’s spine makes him shiver and bat his hand away.

“Stop it,” he mumbles, no heat behind it. The finger comes back exactly seven seconds later.

Taiga is silently thankful that they didn’t get any… _evidence_ on the couch. They probably should have thought that through better, but either way it’s fine. 

They took a quick shower and retreated to Taiga’s bedroom before his mom could come home. He’s listening intently for the door, though; she’d be here any minute.

“Why you so tense, Taiga?” Daiki asks, warm hand on Taiga’s back under his t-shirt.

“My mom’ll be back soon.”

“So?”

“She’ll know.”

“So?”

“It’s gonna be so fucking embarrassing.”

Daiki rolls his eyes. “You said she’s fine with it.”

“Yeah, but it’ll still be embarrassing.” Taiga’s got very obvious bruises on his neck. She might even poke fun at him. He has the feeling she’ll be amused. The thought is vaguely terrifying.

Daiki has the nerve to laugh at him. “Chill,” he says.

“Easy for you to say,” he mutters back.

Daiki kisses the back of his neck gently. “Sorry, Taiga, but absolutely fucking nothing could ruin my good mood right now.”

Taiga smiles to himself. 

Obviously, Daiki is still basking in the afterglow and it’s nice. Daiki’s nice like this. It makes Taiga think they need to do it more often, just to get Daiki to be nice to him.

The door opens downstairs.

“Ah, fuck, fuck, fuck,” Taiga freaks out.

Daiki pats his head. “Chill,” he repeats.

“Taiga?” his mom calls from downstairs.

“Yeah, mom?”

“Hi, Kagami-san!” Daiki blurts loudly.

“Oh, hello Daiki! Do you two want leftover pizza? Or are you…busy?”

Daiki darts out of bed and opens the door, following the call of pizza.

“No, we’re good. I’d like some, please.”

Taiga rolls his eyes, but follows suit, stomach growling.

Daiki’s at the table when he joins them in the dinning room.

“You better hurry before he eats it all,” his mom says.

Taiga nods and hurriedly grabs a plate and some pizza.

Daiki looks entirely too pleased with life at the moment; face screaming “I just had sex.” Taiga’s mom looks between them, smirks and says nothing. Taiga wishes he were an ostrich so he could bury his head in the floor.

When Daiki’s done he says, “Well, I better head home.”

“You sure you don’t wanna stay?” Taiga’s mom asks lightly.

“I would love too, but my dad’ll get on me if I do,” he says, frowning slightly.

“Oh, alright, well it was very nice seeing you, Daiki-kun,” she says, smiling happily.

“You too, Kagami-san. Thanks for the pizza.” Daiki goes around the table and kisses Taiga on the briefly on the cheek. “See you, tomorrow,” he says, and waltzes out the door. 

Taiga’s bright red. His mom says, “He seems to be in a good mood. I wonder why…”

“Mom, please don’t.”

“Don’t what?” She turns the corner into the kitchen. “I hope you had a nice time,” she says quietly. Taiga can’t quite place her tone.

“I did,” he says. “I really did.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So, this is like the...sixth? Maybe? Sixth AoKaga sex scene I've written and even though this is the least explicit by far, I think I kinda like this one best. Idk. It was so...feely. I like feely things. Did you guys like it? I hope so, cause that's almost it! Ahhhh! One more chapter to go. I'll see you in the coming week with the finale! Bye, for now!


	21. Epilogue

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm back from the dead! I'm so sorry guys. This has just been impossible for me to write. I was considering just giving up, but that wouldn't be fair, so I worked on it all this weekend and finally finished. Is it the best I've written? No. But I hope it provides a satisfying enough wrap up; a good happy ending to our tale. I threw in a tiny bit of smut for good measure, btw. A big and special thanks to everyone who commented on the penultimate chapter! I didn't get to reply, but I read them all, and staring at them all weekend was what motivated me to get writing again! Enjoy!

The summer’s almost reached its end, and Taiga’s not sure if he’s excited or disappointed. He can’t wait for high school, mainly in the basketball sense, because the competition’s only gonna get stiffer and he could _always_ use more of a challenge.

He and Daiki have already agreed that going to different schools would be the best idea, even if it meant seeing each other less. There’s something about the thought of playing _with_ Daiki, on his side, that makes Taiga’s skin crawl.

Like oil and water, it simple won’t happen.

Daiki told him that the little blue haired angel guy is going to the same high school as Taiga, so that should be interesting at the very least. 

Satsuki’s following Daiki of course, and Taiga is suitably terrified by what they could accomplish together. Excited, mostly, though.

During the last week of summer, Taiga gets a call.

“Hello?”

“Hey, Taiga.”

“Dad?”

“Yeah, I, ah, well someone asked me to extend an invitation to you.”

“Huh?” 

“Dr. Toby was wondering if you and…Daiki, wanted to come visit. He mentioned something about a Lakers practice being involved?”

Taiga takes a couple of seconds to process what was just said. “Are you saying…Dr. Toby is inviting Daiki and me to come to LA and go watch the Lakers practice?”

“I believe he said, ‘participate _in_ ’ a Lakers practice.”

Taiga has the distinct urge to actually pinch himself to make sure this isn’t an elaborate and amazing dream.

“So, shall I tell him yes?” his father asks in the few moments of silence that ensue as Taiga tries to pick his mouth up off the floor.

“Are you kidding?!” he yells once he finds his voice. “Hell yeah!”

“Great. Well, I let him know then.”

“I’ll…I mean, I gotta go tell Daiki.”

“Yes, and, uh, I was thinking I’d pick you two up from the airport and maybe we could all have dinner.

“You…really?”

“Yes, I think it’s time I met your boyfriend. Don’t you?” His father tries to sound teasing, but the question comes out genuine and timid.

“Yeah,” Taiga says firmly. “I think it is.”

# ****

Taiga’s pretty sure Daiki almost fainted at the news. 

It was actually pretty funny.

He wouldn’t shut up the whole way to the airport.

Taiga remembered something when he got there. Or rather some _one_. And sure enough…

“Alex!”

There she is. 

“Well, hey there little sir!”

“I’m not little anymore,” he says, standing straighter. “I’m surprised you still remember me.”

“Oh, please. And you’ll always be little to me, little sir.”

Taiga rolls his eyes, but in reality, he couldn’t be happier. “So, Alex, this is him.” Taiga drags a confused looking Daiki closer to him.

“Ah, well. I get it now.”

Daiki frowns at the both of them. “Get what?”

Taiga ignores him. “Yeah, I know. I’m taking him to meet my dad in L.A.”

“Well that’s a big step!”

“Yeah…any…advice?” he asks. She’d been so helpful in the past, it stood to reason that wouldn’t have changed.

“Hmm…well, when I brought home my first girlfriend, I was scared out of my panties. Thought I’d die. But somehow, she charmed my parents into submission. They weren’t so hot on the idea of me being a lesbian, but they did warm up to her at least, and that was enough. So I guess…even if your dad isn’t completely cool with it, even him being partially cool with it is a great relief. Does that count as advice?” Alex scratches her head as Taiga mentally kicks himself for not realizes her sexual orientation sooner. Of course she’d been speaking from experience, _of course_ she always seemed to know how Taiga felt, because she did. What a colossal moron Taiga was for not seeing that. 

He decides not to voice his admittedly late realization aloud. “Thanks, Alex. Somehow you’ve always been there for me. So…yeah…thanks,” he finishes awkwardly.

“Fate. What can I say? And, Daiki?”

Daiki’s eyes snap from whatever space he’d been starring at, to Alex’s face. “Huh?”

“You’ve got a good one here. Don’t fuck it up. Both of you.”

Taiga smirks at her bluntness. Daiki scowls in a way that isn’t particularly threatening. “Pfft. I know that. Like hell I would.”

Alex smiles like she’s just imparted divine wisdom unto them both, which perhaps, in her way, she had. “Good.”

# ****

Despite the hellish length of the flight, Taiga still can’t believe it when the pilot announces that they’ll be landing shortly. Fortunately, Daiki doesn’t notice Taiga’s unease because he’s too busy pretending like he isn’t hyperventilating.

“You ok?” Taiga asks, trying to sound like a supportive boyfriend, while inside he’s kind of amused by Daiki’s lack of composure. It’s rare to see him flustered like this. Even his dark skin can’t hide the redness of his ears and the way he keeps glaring at everything like he does when he feels threatened; even when the threat is no where in sight.

“I’m fine, Bakagami, why would you even ask me that? Huh?”

Taiga lets out a short sputter of a laugh, feels bad about it for exactly two seconds, and then laughs some more. “My dad’s not gonna kill you or anything, moron.”

“I know that! Shut up! Just…shut up!”

Taiga smiles at him, this time sympathetically. He’s nervous too, but he’s also resigned himself to the possibility of his father never truly accepting him. It’s something he may have to live with and he’s made his peace…well, as much as Taiga could “make peace” with anything. If this issue was a physical thing, he’d probably punch it, to be honest. “Daiki, it’ll be ok. _You’ll_ be ok. And remember…Lakers.”

Daiki’s eyes snap wider, full of wonder and bliss, lips curving into a radiant smile, and Taiga has the stupidly misplaced urge to stick his tongue in his month and his hands in his hair and never let go. Unfortunately they’re still in a plane. 

Taiga sighs. He doubts he’ll get much alone time with Daiki on a count of his father’s wariness and it’s a shame because Taiga hands are getting twitchy for Daiki’s skin and his mouth is producing entirely too much saliva. 

Whilst he attempts to clamp down on his regrettable teenage sex drive, Daiki says “We’ll be ok right? You and me? Even if this goes south?”

“Of course. My father can hate you all he wants, I’ll still love you.”

Daiki turns redder and he’s so, so pretty that Taiga has to lean over and kiss his cheek. 

The young flight attendant sees them and lets out a poorly repressed “Aww,” at the sight. 

This time Taiga blushes, and Daiki rolls his eyes and puts his arm around his shoulder for good measure. “You hear that Taiga? We’re hella cute together.” 

“Shut up.”

“Love you too.”

# ****

When they arrive at LAX, Daiki’s back to being nervous. 

Taiga takes his hand, not caring in the least who saw them. They’re in L.A. anyway, it’s not likely that anyone will care. 

Taiga pulls Daiki around, searching for his father’s car and Daiki lets himself be dragged.

After a while he hears a faint voice and catches sight of a hand waving out a car window.

“There he is,” Taiga says with some finality. “Come on.”

His father gets out of the car, a smile plastered on his face, probably fake, but points for effort.

“Taiga, it’s good to see you…wow, you’re tall,” he says, genuinely taken aback by his height.

Taiga smirks a bit. “Yeah,” he says, before clearing his throat. “So, this is Daiki. Daiki, my dad.”

Daiki steps forward, albeit a little big hesitantly. “Nice to meet you, Kagami-san.”

His father blinks at him in what looks to be mild surprise. He holds out his hand nonetheless. “Nice to finally me you, Daiki-kun.”

Daiki fidgets nervously.

Taiga rolls his eyes. “Ok, then. We should go, right?”

“Yes, yes, we should get going.”

Taiga and Daiki clamber into the backseat; Daiki vibrating with excess nerves. Every time Taiga looks over at him in what he assumes to be a reassuring manner, Daiki glares at him angrily and Taiga backs off with a smirk.

“Chill, babe,” Taiga whispers.

“I am chill…you chill!” he hisses. Taiga laughs quietly.

They get to the restaurant without much conversation other than the requiscent, “how have you beens,” and “how’s schools.”

Once they get to the restaurant (a pan-asian restaurant called Rocksugar), and take their seats, Taiga begins to feel a bit nervous himself again. They sit quietly for a while before his father says, “So, Daiki-kun, you and Taiga play basketball together. Is that how you met?”

Taiga tsks. “We play basketball, _against_ each other. That’s how we met.”

“Oh, you’ve never played on the same team?”

Daiki shakes his head. “Nope, and never will.” He looks at Taiga triumphantly and Taiga smiles back.

His father looks confused as to how this could be a good thing, but lets it go. “I see,” he says, even though he doesn’t really seem to see much at all. “So you’re going to different schools this year, then?”

“Yeah. It’s better that way,” Taiga replies. 

“Huh.” His father clears his throat. “Are you two excited for the practice tomorrow?”

Daiki beams in spite of himself. “Yes! I love the Lakers. I can’t even believe this is happening!”

“Well, you’ll have to thank Dr. Toby when you see him.”

Taiga smiles at the mention of Dr. Toby. He can’t wait to introduce him to Daiki. “We will.”

The waitress comes and takes their orders.

Once she leaves, Taiga’s father says. “So, a Lakers fan, huh?” And they start talking about basketball for a bit. 

Little by little, Taiga’s dad seems to loosen up a bit, sounding less awkward with each passing moment. Taiga’s happy about that at least; Daiki may charm him yet.

# ****

After dinner is a significant improvement upon before dinner.

His dad can actually look them in the eye now at least, which is nice. And he also seems to have warmed up to Daiki quite a bit. Which is also nice.

When they get back to his dad’s house, Daiki confesses that he’s exhausted, and drags his way to Taiga’s bed, falling asleep almost instantly.

Taiga takes to opportunity to poke at his dad a bit. “So,” he says as casually as he can. “What…do you think of Daiki?”

“…I like him,” he admits honestly. “He’s…well I guess I can see why _you_ like him; you two are very similar, I kinda felt like I was talking to you sometimes.”

“We get that a lot,” Taiga deadpans.

His dad chuckles a bit. “I’m glad you two came. I’m glad I’ve gotten he opportunity to mend things. I appreciate that, Taiga. I know…I said some things I really shouldn’t have, and you didn’t need to give me this chance, but I’m glad you did, because I understand a little better now.”

Taiga smiles sleepily, also feeling a bit tired, and shrugs. “Well…good. I’m glad you like him.” He yawns.

“Maybe you should get some sleep. You have a big day ahead of you.”

# ****

Taiga wakes up to Daiki kissing his face. Which is nice, but kinda wet and slobbery. “Daiki, fuck off.”

“I’m so excited,” he whispers.

“Yeah, yeah, I know,” Taiga mutters, still in the embrace of sweet, sweet sleep.

“Your dad went out to the grocery store,” Daiki says suddenly.

“So?”

“So…” he leans over him and starts kissing him again, this time languidly on the lips. Taiga opens his mouth a little and lets Daiki in. 

They kiss like that for a while until Daiki goes for his neck. “No. Don’t start leaving hickey’s where everyone’ll see them.”

Daiki glares at him, and then smirks. “Can I leave hickeys where no one will see them?”

“Um…”

Daiki doesn’t wait for an answer. He just pulls Taiga’s sweats off, underwear and all. 

Taiga squeaks at the cold air and hisses. “What are you doing?”

“Don’t know yet. Wanna let me find out?”

Taiga bites his lip, but he’s already half hard so…”Fine. Whatever. Just…make it quick.”

Daiki grins an evil grin. “If you say so.”

He pushes Taiga’s legs apart so he can kiss the inside of his thigh. Taiga shudders and Daiki plants another one a little higher, and Taiga already knows he won’t be able to take much more of this. 

He starts sucking a bruise into his inner thigh as his hand creeps ever so slightly higher, teasing but not touching and Taiga’s eyelids flutter, and he wants to say something but he’s lost his voice. 

Then, completely without warning, Daiki plants a kiss right on the head of his cock and Taiga’s eye’s fly open so fast it almost hurts and he let’s out a choked “Shit!”

Daiki looks up at him, eyes gone all loopy and soft, lips already shinning with excess moisture. “Can I…?”

“Suck my dick?”

Daiki nods slowly. 

“Uh, yeah, stupid.”

Daiki bites his lip and looks so utterly sexy it’s not even fair. And then he licks Taiga from root to tip and Taiga forgets absolutely everything.

“Oh, shit.”

Daiki takes him in his mouth, experimenting, trying different things, humming in the back of his throat, closing his eyes then opening them. 

He obviously has no idea what he’s doing, but it doesn’t matter in the least, it’s perfect, and leaves Taiga trembling for _more_. 

Taiga lets out a little moan as Daiki sucks hard on a particularly good spot. “Good?” Daiki asks, breathlessly. His face is all red, his eyes are nearly all pupil, short hair messy from sleep and kissing, and here he is, with his wild eyes, sucking Taiga’s dick. Taiga can’t even process it. Can’t believe this is happening. It’s almost too much.

“Uh-huh,” he mumbles.

Daiki smirks a little, and goes back to the task at hand, taking more of Taiga in his mouth with each suck. 

Taiga groans. “Daiki…I…you should…shit…I’m gonna…”

“Do it,” Daiki growls.

And Taiga does. And Daiki swallows it all. And Taiga stares at him like he’s never seen him before.

“Taiga,” he says after he’s wiped his lips with the back of his hand. “Could you…”

Daiki doesn’t finish his sentence. Taiga sits up and sticks his hand down his pants, pulls his cock out and gives it a few long, hard strokes. 

He has him coming in moments, hand cupped over the tip so he doesn’t get it on the bed sheets. Not something he wants to have to explain to his father.

Daiki falls back onto the bed looking sated and sleepy again. “Wow,” he says after a few moments of catching his breath. “Today is gonna be a good day.”

# ****

That day _was_ a good day. The _best_ day. Maybe. 

It started off with his first blow-job of course. And was followed up with a hardy American breakfast of eggs, sausage and waffles. 

Daiki had said, “You know, I’m actually not too hungry. I feel like I’ve already eaten. I wonder why.” And Taiga kicked him under the table while he snickered and he dad looked suitably confused.

Then they’d driven over to the Laker’s practice facility while Daiki looked about ready to faint at any moment. 

They’d stared in aww at the giants before them, shooting hoops and dribbling up the court until Dr. Toby had shown up and tapped Taiga on the shoulder.

“Oh, Dr. Toby, hey.”

“Hello, Taiga, good to see you.”

Taiga cleared his throat with fake flourish. “Dr. Toby, this is my boyfriend, Daiki. Daiki this is Dr. Toby.”

“Ah, we finally meet,” he’d held out his hand to shake. “What do you think?” he’d asked, gesturing around them.

“This is awesome!” Daiki exclaimed breathlessly.

Dr. Toby chuckled. “I’m glad you think so. I-“

“Hi, Taiga!” 

Taiga had heard a voice. A familiar one. “Oh, David! I didn’t know you would be here,” he’d said in English.

“Well, Tobs here told me you were going to be here, so I thought I’d tag along. It’s been a while.” 

“It has.” Taiga had pointed to Daiki, who’d been standing at the sideline drooling. “That’s Daiki. My boyfriend.” Taiga felt a bit giddy every time he said it. It never gets old.

“Oh, smooth Taiga, very smooth.” David patted him on the back. 

Taiga nodded. 

“So you just gonna stand here or are you gonna get out there?”

Taiga raised his eyebrows and looked at Daiki. “You wanna go out there?” he asked, switching back to Japanese. 

Daiki’s eyes were _exactly_ as they were when they first met. Thrumming with energy and the thrill of a challenge. Those were the eyes he fell in love with. 

Taiga had to stamp down a sharp wave of emotion. 

“Hell, yeah I do. You coming, babe?”

Taiga smiled. “Always.”

# ****

A few hours of selfies with Kobe Bryant and suitably impressing the professionals (as much as two almost-highschoolers could) later, Taiga and Daiki sit in the backseat of his dad’s car, Daiki snoring quietly with his head on Taiga’s shoulder, and Taiga trying to burn the events of the day into his mind forever. 

They were nothing next to the professionals of course, but they were certainly better than they had any business being. 

Kobe went so far as to say they were better than _he_ was in highschool. And had a bright future ahead of them (on the Lakers, of course).

When Taiga had translated this to Daiki, he’s pretty sure he blacked out of a split second.

Taiga smiles so hard it hurts. 

“Love you,” Daiki mumbles suddenly, seemingly in his sleep. 

“I love you, too.”

And he swears he catches his dad’s smile in the rearview mirror, but maybe it’s his imagination.

Then again, maybe it’s not.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yeah, so that's it! I suck at ending things, I know, I'm so sorry. Hope it didn't suck TOO bad. So let's talk beginnings! I have another AoKaga fanfic in the works. It's only 5 chapters and I'm currently working on chapter 4, so it's certain to be out in a timely manner. It's also a return to form for me, by which I mean it's 50% angst, 25% flowery language 15% smut and 10% fluff. Or something like that. In fact, it's the angstyest thing I've ever written. That should be coming out either later today or tomorrow if anyone is interested. As always, thanks for reading this mess! I love you all and comments are always welcome! See ya!


End file.
